The Uprising
by CD-ROM1717
Summary: A retelling of HL2 and its episodes featuring two new characters. Chase, a heavy gunner for the USMC with a very complex background relating to the major characters, and Chell from the Portal series whose puzzle solving abilities and understanding of the portal gun will prove invaluable as time progresses. Rated M for references to sexual activity.
1. Meet Chase

**Disclaimer: Valve owns the Half Life/Portal storyline. I'm writing this for my enjoyment and a friend of mine told me to publish it to this site.**

 **AN: A bit of context before I start this, I added a new charachter** **to the existing Half Life storyline. He's a heavy gunner for the United States Marines and has many ties to characters in the existing franchise, I'll reveal those over the course of the story. Also, m writing will probably be hit-and-miss for some of the charachters, but I hope you still enjoy reading it.**

 **Chapter 1: Meet Chase...  
**  
Chase looked around at the scenery outside the helicopter. The surrounding cliff walls looked oddly familiar, but then again, so does everything in a desert.

"You nervous Jimmy?" One member of his squad said elbowing the guy next to him.

"Nah. We've got Chaingun-Chase with us. Ain't nobody going to take us by storm." Was the reply.

"Yeah until a sniper's bullet meets my head." Chase said sarcastically.

"Well keep it down!" His friend told him. A couple people laughed at the irony (Chase was well over 7' tall and by far the biggest man in his squad, probably even the whole regiment and then some).

"How 'bout I use you as a shield?" Chase said back. Everyone laughed.

Just then the chopper they were in started to creak and groan. A split second later Chase fell as the wall behind him gave out. He fell only 10 feet before landing on a cliff ledge. He got to his feet and looked at the chopper just in time to watch it catch fire and see the sergeant jump out of it just in time to be out of harm's way when the chopper crashed.

"Hey down there! Are you alright?" Chase heard a voice call from above him. He looked up to find another sergeant above him.

"Yes sir I'm alright. If I may ask a favor could your squad lower me down to the valley floor. The rest of my squad was in that chopper and I'd like to dig out any survivors." Chase answered.

"Sure thing Corporal."

"If I find anyone I'll send them up to you." Chase told the sergeant.

A few moments later Chase was being lowered to the valley floor. He promptly untied himself and ran over to the burning chopper.

"Is anyone in there?" He called.

"Chase! Help me!" Chase recognized the voice of his friend James.

"I see you James." He said pulling a piece of debris off of his friends leg. "Can you walk?" He asked.

"No." James answered, "Anyone who could ran."

"Alright I've got you buddy." Chase said pulling James over his shoulder. "Looks like you're the only one left. Now let's go." Chase said and he swiftly took off for the rope.

Upon arrival Chase swiftly tied James into the rope and the squad above pulled him up.

"Hey Kleiner!" Chase heard.

"Yes sir?" Chase yelled back.

"They're pulling the marines out of here. Find the nearest evacuation chopper and get the hell out of here. We have one waiting for us but after this guy it'll be full." The sergeant told him.

"Thank you sir. Will do." Chase yelled back and promptly took off down the valley. About two hundred yards off in the distance he spotted an open door with a chopper behind it. He took off in a dead-heat sprint in order to make it in time, but just before he got to the door it closed and the chopper on the other side took off. Chase sat down feeling defeated. As he was catching his breath he noticed a sign by the door.

"Black Mesa." He said under his breath. "Wait a minute why the hell am I here?! What is going on?! Is my dad okay?! What the hell happened here?!" Chase was quiet after remembering that no one was around to hear him. Or at least that was what he thought until a man with a briefcase tapped him on the shoulder.

"Holy crap!" Chase said as he flinched away from the man.

"Hello Corporal." The man said. It seemed as though he wasn't used to speaking as his phrasing was unusual.

"Who on Earth are you?" Chase asked.

"I'm not at liberty to reveal my identity to you. But I am here to ensure you make it out alive." The man said.

"Wh-what? A-Alive from what?" Chase stuttered. He was starting to get worried.

"How about we go and watch?" The man said. Before Chase could say anything there was a bright flash and they were in a bunker. Chase blinked to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Chase looked out the window just in time to see a mushroom cloud appear in the distance. Then time seemed to stop suddenly leaving the cloud hanging in the air, frozen in place. "That." The man told him.

"Hey how'd you get us here?" Chase asked.

"I'm not allowed to say. All I am supposed to say is that you have been offered a job by my employers." The man explained.

"You seem an odd candidate for an H.R. position." Chase told the man.

"My employers are not ordinary people." The man said. "I can't reveal any more about them. All I can reveal is that they have instructed me to give you the option of working for them or being inside that nuclear blast right now."

Chase didn't really feel like he had a choice. "Okay. I'll take the job." He said nervously.

"Excellent choice. I have been instructed to give you the following information: After I've finished telling you this information, you are to close your eyes and go to sleep. Once you open them you will be in a new place. There will be a woman there with you. She will have had a similar choice to the one I offered you. See to it that she stays safe over the course of your journey."

"Alright. I'll do my best." Chase had a bad feeling that he wasn't going to make it out of whatever he was being put into.

"There's one last thing, don't ask or tell anyone about me or my employers. Your friends will inevitably mention me eventually and then you may talk about these issues." The man told him.

"Ok." Chase was beginning to feel tired.

"Thank you Corporal." The man said as Chase fell asleep and everything went blank...


	2. Alyx's Musings

**AN:Something I forgot to mention last time was that these first few chapters will be a sort of prologue. They introduce the new characters and explain how they got drug into this mess. At this point I plan on starting the actual action in chapter 5. Also some context: this is between the Black Mesa incident and the Seven Hours War.**

 **Chapter 2: Alyx's musings.  
**  
"Hey Alyx." Alyx heard a voice she recognized.

"Hey Dr. Kleiner." She replied, not taking her sights off of Dog. She was waiting for him to throw another bottle.

"One of your friends brought you some more bottles to use." Dr. Kleiner said as Alyx shot a bottle out of the air.

"Can you just set them by this oil drum please? I'll take them down to Dog when we're done." Alyx said as she reloaded her .22 and scoped in for another shot.

"Ok." Dr. Kleiner said as he set the bottles down.

Alyx shot another bottle. She wondered why Dr. Kleiner hadn't left but she didn't say anything.

Dog threw another bottle and Alyx shot it.

"You're pretty good at handling that little gun." Dr. Kleiner said.

"Thank you." Alyx said taking aim for another shot.

"I remember when my boy used to sit out here and do this with you." Dr. Kleiner began.

Alyx winced and missed her shot. She saw that dog had noticed something was wrong and was coming up to her. She couldn't believe how deep that sentence had cut. She heard it again, "I remember when my boy used to sit out here and do this with you..." The sentence stabbed her like a dagger in the chest. Memories of her early childhood began to run through her mind.

She pulled the rifle down and sat it in her lap. She fought the tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Dr. Kleiner sat down beside her trying to be comforting.

"Your son was like a brother to me..." Alyx said, her voice a little shaky.

"I know." Dr. Kleiner continued, "He taught you a lot."

"Yes. Yes he did..." Alyx said with a sob.

"And then on that fateful day..." Dr. Kleiner began.

"Please! Stop!" Alyx said. She was trying not to cry but at this point there was no stopping it. She hugged the father of the boy who'd taught her everything. She remembered the first time he's taught her to use a B-B gun. She thought of all the times he'd helped her with stuff she needed help with but wouldn't ask for help with. She remembered running in the woods with him playing manhunt.

She took a deep breath through her sobs. It was useless because just then she remembered the day he left for boot camp. It was her 6th birthday. She spent the whole day playing tag with him and her friends. He would throw them all into piles of leaves and they would try to tackle him. "Man," she thought to herself, "if I were to ever see him again... I don't even know what I'd do... I'd probably make an idiot out of myself, not that he'd care... Heck he'd probably do it too. Man I wish I could see him one more time..."

Alyx finally managed to pull herself together enough to talk again.

"Now you were saying?" She said.

"About?" Dr. Kleiner asked.

"The day he died." Alyx said pushing a lump back down her throat.

"I quite vividly remember the resonance cascade. And then finding Gordon still alive, I was surprised he had made it." Alyx had never met Gordon but listened closely as Dr. Kleiner continued with his story. "When I'd heard they called in the Marines to... well... umm... 'save...' us I was overjoyed that I'd get to see my boy in action." He paused for a moment before continuing, "That all ended when I found out that the marines were killing scientists and hunting down Gordon, I got out of there as soon as I could. I hadn't any more than made it to a bunker, several miles away when I saw a mushroom cloud appear in the distance. It was then I knew I was never seeing Chase again."

Alyx sat there thinking about how much she missed him. She wondered what military training had done to him. "I wish we could see him again..." She said.

"Me too Alyx. Me too..."


	3. Beyond Aperture

**AN: Some context: this takes place during the Seven Hours War.**

 **Chapter 3: Beyond Aperture.  
**  
Chell woke up lying on the surface. There was still plenty of debris falling out of the air. She managed to pull herself up to her feet.

"Holy crap, I'd better get out of here or I'm going to get crushed." She thought to herself.

She picked up her portal gun, not that she needed it, and turned to find a man standing there holding a briefcase. She reeled back and got into a fighting stance.

"Take it easy." The man told her. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to speak to you about a job offering."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chell thought, she had just now gotten out of there alive and now she gets a job offering.

There was a bright flash and Chell looked back up to find the man still standing there.

"I'm going to ask you to make your choice. If you stay put I'll take that as a refusal. If you move I'll take that as acceptance."

Chell eyed the man suspiciously.

"One more thing," the man added, "before you choose, look right above you."

Chell looked up to find a large chunk of a steel girder right above her head. She gave the man a suspicious look and stepped out from under the beam.

"Good choice." He began. "Now I'm allowed to offer some explanation of what you just agreed to."

"Great!" Chell thought to herself, "Now I'm gonna die anyway!"

"Now, after I finish telling you what to do, you will be able to close your eyes and fall asleep, but only once I'm done. Now, I already gave a U.S. Marine a similar job offer and he agreed. All I told him to do was to look after you, likewise all I'm going to tell you to do is listen to him and he'll do everything he can to keep you safe."

Chell felt her eyes getting heavy.

"One last thing, when you wake up, your portal device will be nowhere near you, just listen to the marine and he should take you to where you need to go."

Chell closed her eyes and heard one last phrase, "Good Luck."


	4. After the War

**AN: Alright last chapter before our favorite scientist appears! By now the Seven Hours War has ended and Eli and Dr. Kliener have been relocated to City 17.**

 **Chapter 4: After the War…**

"Alright Alyx, the night watch is here you should go get some sleep."

Alyx was too tired to say anything so she just nodded and headed back inside to the lab. When she got there It didn't take long before she was asleep.

A man with a briefcase appeared. He never said anything but just looked around. Alyx then found herself in a battlefield. There were striders and soldiers everywhere, and the rebels weren't doing too well. She turned to find a rebel lying on the ground holding his knee. She ran to help him.

"Get down!" She recognized Chase's voice just as she was tackled. She then heard a strider's cannon begin to charge. She looked up just in time to watch Chase get blown away by the cannon shot and disintegrated.

Then everything went blank again. She saw the man appear again.

"Who are you?" She wanted to ask but her voice just wouldn't work. The man disappeared again and this time she found herself in a street with a sniper in the far end. She dove for cover and barely dodged a bullet.

She suddenly noticed machine gun fire in the distance. Once it stopped she saw Chase appear and run towards her position with his eyes still over his shoulder.

Just then the sniper fired another shot. She was relieved that it had barely missed Chase, but he stopped to turn around.

"Look out!" She wanted to scream but again she couldn't.

Another shot was fired and the bullet met right up with Chase's forehead.

Then everything went black and the man appeared again. He still wouldn't say anything.

Alyx found herself behind a boulder in the woods. She heard something in the distance. It sounded like running. She peeked her head around the corner to see two people running and dodging incoming fire. They were Chase and a woman she didn't recognize. They crouched behind a boulder. Alyx stepped around the Boulder to meet up with them but she ran right into a Combine Soldier. He reeled back to hit her with the butt of his shotgun and then, next thing she knew, she was sitting up in her bed breathing heavily.

"He'll be coming for you..." Alyx heard a mysterious voice that she couldn't find the source of.

After a few minutes of heavy breathing she calmed down enough to process what had just happened.

"Ok that was one hell of a nightmare." She thought out loud quietly. "Who the hell was that man? Why did I just see Chase three times, two of them involving him dying and one of those deaths immediately following saving me?" She paused for a second and then the biggest question hit her, "What the hell does 'he'll be coming for you...' mean? And who said it? Also, who's 'he?'"

"Alyx are you alright in there sweetheart?" She heard her dad calling.

She couldn't think of anything to say so she stayed silent and her dad walked in.

"I'm alright dad." She said not sounding 'alright' in any way shape or form.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Her dad asked picking up that she wasn't ok.

"Yes a weird one. I'd rather not talk about it." She said. "I need some fresh air." She continued after a pause and with that she got up and went outside.

As she left she heard her dad mumble to himself, "He found her. Damn him!"

"What the hell?! Does he know that guy with the briefcase?!" She thought to herself. The war had left her hardened but she still found herself confused and angry.


	5. The Awakening

**Chapter 5: The Awakening…**

Gordon woke up on a train. He looked around and noticed two other men on the train. One of whom looked at him and said, "I didn't see you get on?" Gordon wasn't sure what to say so he just shrugged and sat down.

"Ok." He thought to himself, "I should probably just blend in. Whatever happens happens."

Right about then the train stopped and one of the men said, "Well, end of the line…"

"Yeah and I just sat down." Gordon mumbled to himself before standing up and getting off the train. As he got off he heard a voice he recognized, "Ugh, Breen again? I thought I'd seen the last of the guy." He said quietly.

"Yeah us too." Said one of the men ahead of him.

Gordon didn't reply he just followed them briefly before some flying robot hovered just in front of him.

Before he could say anything there was a blinding flash of light and Gordon winced and rubbed his eyes. "Note to self," he thought, "Don't let those get anywhere near me."

After his eyes recovered he continued following the men to some kind of line to another train. There was what he assumed to be a police officer telling people where to go. When he was next in line the officer(?) told him to go to the left.

Gordon walked through the gate only to be stopped and called for what he assumed was a security check.

He followed the person(?) to the security room and saw a puddle of dried blood on the floor. He didn't say anything but he was beginning to regret his plan.

He watched as the… the whatever it was… disabled the security cameras and turned to him. "Now!" It began before taking off its mask. "About that beer I owe ya!"

Gordon was amazed when he saw his old friend Barney under the mask.

"Barney you had me scared there…" He told him.

"Sorry," Barney began, "the Combine don't like when Civil Protection doesn't crack down on people for no reason."

"What's the Combine?" Gordon asked.

"An alien empire that took over the world." Barney explained.

"And Civil Protection?"

"They're the equivalent of police officers." Barney said. "We've gotta hurry before they come after me. I'll see if I can call Dr. Kliener." Barney said, typing on the computer looking device in the room.

"Yes Barney what is it? I'm running an important test." Dr. Kliener said. Gordon wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep but based on how much everyone aged he was guessing about 20 years.

"Sorry Doc, but guess who I found!" Barney said.

"Great Scott! Gordon Freeman! How are you gonna get him here?"

"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'." Barney said nervously.

"Alyx was here earlier today. Maybe she could find him and get him here?" Dr. Kliener proposed.

"Who's Alyx?" Gordon asked.

"You'll find out. Just stay away from checkpoints and she should be able to find you." Barney said before turning to Dr. Kliener and continuing, "I'd better cut this off here Doc, I don't wanna push it."

"Good idea and uhh, Gordon, good to see you again."

"Alright Gordon. I wish I could help you out but I've gotta get back on my shift. Just stay clear of anything resembling a camera alright?" Barney explained.

"Ok." Gordon said. Just then there was a knock at the door…

"Shit! Quick Gordon get out of here! Climb out through that window and keep going. I'll meet up with you when I can." Barney said while opening a door.

"Alright. See you later Barney." Gordon said runough the door.


	6. In the Woods

**AN: I'm making these events go in chronological order, but the result is that some parts of the gameplay will be left out so I can explain more of the story. So while these events are happening, Gordon is running from an apartment block raid.**

 **Chapter 6: In the Woods.**

Chell gradually came to. When she finally did she sat up and looked around to find herself in the middle of nowhere.

"Where's this guy I'm supposed to be looking for?" She whispered.

"Psst! Over here!" She heard a whisper. She looked around and saw a marine in full battle gear hiding behind a boulder.

Without saying anything she kept her head down and walked over to him. She was wondering what he was looking at around that rock.

"Holy shit…" He said, "they're mobilizing to keep people in that city. Or to keep people out…"

Chell poked her head over the rock to find humanoid figures about 100 yards away. They all were standing like they were holding weapons but she couldn't see what they were.

"We'd better get the hell out of here." The marine picked up a very big gun and took off staying low, she assumed to avoid detection. Not that the guy was small…

Chell followed his lead to behind another rock. She divided she should talk to this guy so that he at least didn't feel like he was being ignored. "Why are we staying down?" She asked crouching beside him.

"We probably could get away with walking but idk in there are any snipers around and I don't wanna take chances." He explained.

"Hey, umm… What's your name?" Chell asked.

"I did forget to introduce myself didn't I?" He said. "Chase Kliener, United States Marines."

"My names Chell. Nice to meet you."

"Alright. Now, there's a building up behind this rock but I'm not sure you want to get involved because you don't look like you have a weapon." Chase explained.

"Ok then what should I do?" Chell asked.

"Stay behind me. I'll try to keep you out of sight; but if I can't, find someplace like this."

"Ok." Chell wasn't sure how well this would work but she was willing to try. She had survived impossible odds before after all.

"Alright, let's go." He said standing up and readying his gun. It was then that Chell realized just how huge this guy was.

"Holy Shit!" She thought to herself, "this guy's huge!"

"Come on!" Chase said running around the rock with his gun ready.

As they neared the building Chell heard machine gun fire. "What the hell is going on?!" She thought to herself.

"Help!" A voice came from the second story window of the building.

Without saying anything Chase moved in with his gun ready. The next thing Chell knew four humanoid figured carrying machine guns were on the stairs firing at them.

Chell watched as Chase mowed down everything that was shooting at them. She was impressed with how well he was able to handle that big of a gun.

"Ok so these guys aren't friendly." Chase said poking at something in his chest.

"I guess not. Did we manage to save that guy upstairs?" Chell asked.

"I don't hear him but we should probably check for more of these assholes." Without saying anything Chell followed him up the stairs to find… nothing.

"Well that was easy enough." Chase said. "Now let's get you a gun, it looks like there's plenty here."

"I've never handled a gun before…" Chell said feeling a little embarrassed.

"You point it at what you want to hit, pull the trigger and bullets come out. Of course there's more to it but for now that's all you need to know." Chase said. Chell laughed at the crude joke.

"I'd say you're in luck." He continued.

"Why?" Chell asked.

"These guys were carrying SMGs. They're basically small machine guns - good to learn on." Chase explained.

"Ok." Chell was a little nervous.

"Here." Chase said handing her one of the guns.

Chell took the gun and noticed that Chase was holding one too. Chell followed him outside next to a rock.

"Ok so let's see what you've learned so far. Sink a few rounds into that rotten log." Chase said.

Chell raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The gun fired a few bullets before clicking and stopping. "Uh-oh." She said, thinking she'd broke it.

"Don't worry, your magazine might be empty." Chase said. Here let me see."

Chell gave him the gun. After a brief inspection he said, "No you've still got a few rounds in there, looks like it misfired."

"Whoops…" Chell wasn't sure if she's broke the gun or not.

"It's not your fault. I'm actually glad this happened now. Just pull this back and it should work again." Chase explained.

Chell did as instructed.

"Good now empty the magazine and I'll show you how to reload."

Chell aimed at the log and fired the last few rounds.

"Ok now watch me," Chase said holding the gun he picked up so that she could look at it, "push this button and the magazine will slide out." He demonstrated before continuing, "Then you can slide another one in, once it clicks in your good to go."

Chell did exactly what Chase had done and when she finished he told her, "you're probably going to want to get faster at that but for now that's good. Now let's get you some more ammo."

Chell followed him up to a green crate inside the building. "These symbols will look like the ammunition inside." He began, "these are for your SMG," he continued pointing to the crate, I would take as much as you can carry so long as there's no one else around."

"Ok got it." Chell said grabbing five magazines.

"I'm gonna grab some ammo for this gun real quick, I'll be right back."

"Why can't I just come with you?" Chell asked.

"Fair enough." Chase said going back upstairs. Chell followed him. When he found the crate he pulled out what looked like a belt with bullets embedded in it.

"Whoah, what is that?" She asked.

"This? It's the ammo for my chaingun." Chase explained.

"Those are big bullets…" She said.

"Well it's a big gun and I'm a big guy."

"I noticed." Chell said eyeing him up. He was easily 7'. "Say how much do you weigh?" She asked.

"On my own over 300, in all this gear I wouldn't be surprised if I'm pushing 400." He said.

"I can see why they'd give you a big gun…" She said nervously.

Chase laughed, "hey, in my squad everyone that knew me called me Chaingun-Chase."

Chell laughed.

"Alright let's find a way out of here." Chase said walking over to a map on the wall.

Chell noticed a lambda symbol on the arm of the man who had been shot, she also noticed them on the map. "Those lambda symbols must be bases for the group that used to occupy this." Chell realized.

"Well we'd better get moving…"


	7. On the Move

**AN: So I just found out that I've been spelling Kleiner wrong this entire time. So yeah I went back and fixed that. Sorry if that bothered any of you.**

 **Chapter 7: On the move...**

"Ok," Chase thought to himself, "it looks like we should just follow this ridge down to the old canals. There seems to be a lot of bases there."

"There's also one on the hill." Chell pointed out.

"Yeah. Let's go, I'm not sure how long we have." He said before leaving through the garage door.

He led her out of the building and over to behind a tree. He scanned the area for any sort of cover, he had a feeling there was a sniper around. He noticed a trench duf in the ground that looked like it had been there for a while. He saw a flock of birds inside it too.

"Alright let's check for snipers…" He thought out loud.

"What?" Chell whispered.

Without saying anything chase picked up a rock and threw it into the trench, scaring some birds. As the birds took off he noticed a blue line track one and then he heard a gunshot. "Snipers…" He thought to himself, "I guess that's why that trench is there." He decided their best option was to make a run for it. "Hey," he said nudging Chell, "there's a trench down there, make a run for it, and keep your head down once you get there, I'll be right behind you."

He watched as Chell nodded and took off while he stayed back and looked for the source of the shots. He tracked the line back to an old treehouse in the distance.

"I see you you little bastard." He whispered a pulled out his launcher and loaded it. He realized that the guy might be friendly but he wanted to be ready just in case.

He turned and saw Chell hiding in the trench. He waited for the beam to move away from him and then he took off. "Shit!" He thought as he saw it heading back his way. As he jumped down into the trench he felt something hit his helmet hard enough to knock him off balance for the split second he was in free fall. Next thing he knew he was lying in the dirt on his side.

"Oh my god…" He heard Chell say nervously, "are you ok?"

Without saying anything, he sat up and dusted himself off. He picked up his helmet and examined it. When he found the hole he showed it to Chell and laughed.

"How the hell are you laughing at that?" She asked sounding relieved.

"There's no point in being scared, if you die you die." He answered.

Chell just shook her head.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to live but fear does you nothing." He said. "Now I'll take care of that sniper and then we'll keep moving to that base down the hill."

Chase pulled out his launcher and scoped in on the sniper's location. He ducked until the beam went off in the distance. He lined everything up and fired his launcher. A split second later he saw the tower go up in flames.

"Well that's that." He said standing up. "Let's keep moving, keep your eyes peeled and follow me." He said and took off into the distance.

"Hey what the hell was that thing?" Chell asked.

"What was what thing?" Chase replied.

"The gun you used to take out that sniper."

"Oh! They gave me that for when we got settled down for the night. It's basically a sniper rifle of a grenade launcher." He explained.

"Is that why it was so big?"

"Yeah basically. I have some getting used to with that thing, it's got a hell of a kick."

"I'm sure you can get it." Chase was wondering why this woman was so concerned, they hadn't met over an hour ago.

When they arrived at the building they didn't find anyone there. But when Chase went to search the garage, he found a side by side. "Hey get a load of this!" He said.

"What?" Chell asked from a distance.

"I might have found us a ride outta here." Chase said.

"Hang on, I'm coming."

Chase checked the oil and gas in the vehicle. It looked like it hadn't been used for a while but it would run, and had a full tank of gas so he wasn't complaining.

Right about then, Chell walked in. "Whoa…" She said.

Chase didn't say anything, he just smiled at the look on her face for a couple seconds before asking, "did you see anything useful in there?"

"I saw some kind of gun," she said, "but I don't know what it was."

"Show me, it might be useful." Chase said.

"Ok. It's over here." Chase followed her to a small room on the outside of the building. "There it is." She said pointing to a workbench.

Chase was surprised with what he saw. It looked like an old shotgun. He picked it up and examined it. There wasn't any rust on it and there was no choke in the end so he knew it had a slug barrel on it. "Nice find." He told Chell.

"What is it?" She asked.

"An old shotgun," He told her, "let's see if she still works." He then grabbed a couple slugs and went outside.

He flipped the gun over and loaded two slugs. He then pumped the gun and the mechanisms all worked flawlessly.

"All right everything works. Now for the real test." He said raising the gun to fire.

"Ok." Chell said a little nervously.

Chased fired one shot, pumped the gun, and fired the second shot and emptied the chamber.

"Nice!" He said.

"Why?" Chell asked.

"Now I've got a mid to long range weapon that won't destroy everything it hits."

"Oh."

"Yeah I'll grab a box or two of slugs and we'll take that side by side and get out of here."


	8. The Meeting

**Chapter 8: The Meeting.**

Gordon stuck his head out into the open and saw a pool of toxic looking ooze below him.

"Yuck." He said when the smell hit his nose. He wasn't even sure what it was, he just didn't like it.

"Black Mesa East to Station 6, come in Station 6." He heard a radio that he couldn't see.

"This is Station 6 go ahead." He heard someone reply.

"Gordon Freeman is headed downriver for you guys. Lend him the airboat and send him in his way. Have each station radio ahead to leg ever tube know he's coming."

He thought he recognized Alyx's voice coming through the radio. "So that's where she went." He thought to himself.

"Can you describe him at all?" Someone asked.

"He's in an orange hazard suit, you can't miss him."

"Alright well keep any eye out for him."

Gordon jumped over the toxic goo below him and walked along until he saw people.

"Hey there he is." A woman said.

"Well I'll be damned, it really is him." A man next to her said. "We've got an airboat for you doc it's right over there." He continued while motioning around the corner.

Just then Gordon heard a small engine pull up close by and turn off. "Well well well, look who it is." He heard a voice he recognized and looked to see if it was who he thought it was.

Just as he turned around he saw, sure enough, Chase Kleiner had just pulled up in aside by side with some woman he didn't recognize. "So... you've got yourself a girlfriend finally."

Chase laughed while the woman turned redder than a cherry. "No we ran into each other in the woods. We just happened to be around and when I saw an orange suit I knew who I was looking at."

"Huh, I'm only here for an airboat… Apparently there's a river close by that'll take me to Eli Vance's lab." Gordon explained.

"There is, we just crossed it." Chase said. "Hey," he said after he'd paused for a moment, "you didn't happen to see his daughter anywhere did you?"

"Yeah, I was supposed to make it to Eli's lab with her but there was a teleportation error and I ended up about 20 feet away from where I started."

"Sounds fun. Tell you what, you take the airboat and we'll try to keep up and help with anything we can." Chase proposed. Gordon liked the idea, three are stronger than one. Also, when they got to Eli's they'd could catch up a little bit-Gordon hadn't seen him since he left for boot camp. He nodded to Chase who took off back towards the river.

"Now to go get that boat…" He said quietly.

"Who was that?" He heard a man ask, he looked up to find the people manning the station, he'd forgotten about them.

Gordon looked up at the man and woman with the radio. "Isaac Kleiner's son." He explained.

"He's freaking huge." He said.

"Yeah, he's adopted I'm pretty sure." Gordon told him.

"Huh, makes you wonder who his real parents were." He said.

"No one actually seems to know, Kleiner took him in when he was young, he probably doesn't remember who his real parents were, or at the very least he doesn't like to talk about it." Gordon explained.

"Sorry to barge in but I'd love to see those two have kids." The woman said.

"Not much chance of that with that suppression field up." The man told her.

"Yeah but still…"

Gordon had to admit, those two looked good together.

"Alright Dr. Freeman are you ready because he's probably waiting on you." The man told him.

"Yeah let's get going." Gordon answered.

"Incoming!" He heard the woman yell. A split second later a mortar landed, but didn't explode.

"Oh shit!" He heard the man scrambling to get something. Just then the shell opened up and headcrabs starting jumping out.

Without thinking Gordon pulled out his SMG and began shooting them, man he hated those things.

As he made his way around he saw a headcrab jump right at his face, heard a shotgun fire in the distance, and watched the headcrab fly off to the side. He froze for second contemplating what just happened before regaining his composure and moving on, only to find more shells coming in from everywhere.

Finally he came to a tunnel with a woman fueling up an airboat. "Hey Dr. Freeman, you made it. Take this boat and get out of here!"

"On it!" Gordon said climbing in.

"Head for Station 7, it's a little ways up the river." She called as he drove off.


	9. To Eli's Lab

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. We've been busy trying to get crops in the ground and I haven't had time to write. Hopefully before too long I'll be back on track.**

 **Chapter 9: To Eli's Lab**

Chase heard the sound of an airboat approaching. He looked over his shoulder to see Gordon coming out of a tunnel and headed for him. He started the side by side and waited a couple seconds for him to catch up, then he began to follow him downstream.

Not much later he noticed two humanoid figures resembling the ones he saw in the woods, only smaller and in white uniforms instead of blue ones. They were shooting at Gordon, but he just ran them over.

"Dummies." He said.

"What?" He heard Chell ask. She sounded a little flustered.

"Two idiots just tried to stop Gordon and he just ran them over." He said.

Chell didn't say anything she just looked down. Chase then looked over and saw that her face was red. "What's she all flustered about?" He thought to himself. Then he realized that it was Gordon asking if she was his girlfriend. He laughed when he realized it, more at his own stupidity for not realizing it than anything else. Even then though, he had to admit that she wasn't hard to look at to say the least, he decided he might give her a shot sometime.

A few minutes went by of watching people get run over by an airboat before Chase noticed bullets hitting near him. He stopped and looked around to see where they were coming from. It didn't take him long to see a black car-like vehicle in the distance. He pulled out his launcher and loaded a grenade. He then noticed that the vehicle had switched to firing some kind of heat seeking or radar guided rockets at Gordon. He laid on the ground and sighted in on the vehicle. He fired the grenade and watched the vehicle explode.

"Nice shot." Chell said, still a little flustered but not as bad as earlier, at least now she seemed to know what was actually going on.

"Thanks. Hopefully you'll actually get to use that submachine gun of yours at some point." He answered, climbing back in and continuing on; they had some ground to make up.

After they had caught up they found that they were being chased by a helicopter…that had a mounted minigun.

"Get behind something!" Chase yelled while simultaneously grabbing his launcher and loading it.

He followed Chell behind a rock and waited for the chopper to appear. Once he saw it he fired, reloaded and fired again within three seconds flat-even he was impressed. He looked to Chell to see her reaction, she just smiled at him looking dumbstruck. Chase shrugged and got back in the side-by-side and, once Chell was in with him, drove off.

Once they caught up with Gordon they saw him climbing out and going into an old rundown barn. Chase let the engine idle and leaned back, he needed a brief break from driving.

"Look out!" Chell called out of the blue. Chase looked to his left to find several of the people(?) that had been chasing Gordon. He ducked as Chell fired over his head, killing the entire group.

"Nice job." He said. Chell blushed.

Just then there was machine gun fire in the distance. They both turned simultaneously to where Gordon was. When he couldn't see anything Chase looked around the horizon to see what he could see. He saw a dam just up the river and on the other side he saw what looked like a fortified hydroelectric plant. He pulled out his launcher to use the scope for a better view.

He looked through the scope at what he assumed was a guard tower.

"No way…" He said when he saw who he thought was Alyx.

"What?" Chell asked.

"I think that's a girl I used to know, she looks a lot older now." He said, wondering how long he'd been in suspension, or whatever it was he was in. He scoped out and called to Gordon, "Hey Freeman!"

"What?"

"Where's the last place you saw Alyx?"

Gordon though briefly before answering, "Eli's lab."

"I think I just saw her right downstream. There's a dam and I saw her in a fortification on the other side."

"Well let's head that way then."

"We're right behind you."

A few minutes later they were at the dam. Chase shut the side by side off, grabbed his weapons, and turned to Chell.

"How keen are you on sliding down?" He asked. Chell's eyes widened. He thought for a second about how to go about getting down. "I could just offer to hold on to her or something." He thought. Then he got an idea. "Check to see if there's any rope." He said.

After a few seconds they had found an old climbing rope. He tied a knot in it and told Chell what he was going to do and then lowered her down to the bottom. Once she was down there he pulled the rope back up and lowered his weapons down. Then he went over and slid down the dam into the water. He surfaced to find Chell laughing. He pulled himself up out and picked his weapons back up. Just then he heard the airboat, but it was coming from above him…

He looked up to see the airboat falling, it wasn't gonna hit him but he was gonna get wet.

"Get ready!" He told Chell looking away from what would soon be a major splash. A split second later the boat hit the water and everyone got soaked, except Gordon who was already wet from being in the water.

"Chase?!" He said nervously.

"I'm back here." Chase answered.

"Phew, I thought I might have landed on you." Gordon said."Eli's lab should be right back there." He added pointing around a bend in the river.

"I'm right behind you Chase said climbing out of the water."


	10. Black Mesa East

**AN: So I thought my old summary of this story was boring so I rewrote it, I think it better reflects what this story is. I will also say that I have a major plot twist planned for later.**

 **Chapter 10: Black Mesa East**

"Well this is Eli's lab." Gordon said Climbing out of the airboat.

"Well they sent you here for a reason," Chase said, "Let's go in."

Gordon walked behind a wall and noticed some kind of airlock. "I hope this isn't a trap." He thought to himself before walking in with Chase and… He didn't know the woman's name.

"Hey." He said to her. Just then the airlock closed and the lights went out.

"What?" She replied as two bright lights came on and two cameras began scanning the room.

"I know this is a bizarre time to ask, but I never got your name earlier." He said.

"Oh right, it's Chell." She answered.

"Ok nice to meet you." He said.

Just then the airlock opened. Gordon stepped out into the facility and was met by a woman he'd seen during the teleporter mishap.

"Hello Gordon, I'm Dr. Judith Mossman." She turned to the others, "now you two I'm not familiar with." She added.

"Chase Kleiner." Chase said, shaking her hand.

"Isaac's son?" The woman asked. Chase nodded.

"Huh." Gordon thought to himself. "I could've sworn he was adopted. Then again, he might be covering that up, he really doesn't like to talk about it."

"All right Chell, nice to meet you." The woman said, Gordon missed out on part of the conversation while he was thinking.

"Alright Gordon," Judith began, "I'll take you down to Eli and you two can do whatever. Just don't break anything."

"We won't." Chase said before wandering off with Chell following him.

"Alright Dr. Freeman come with me, I'm gonna try to bring you up to speed on what's been happening while you weren't around." Judith said opening a door.

Gordon followed her to an elevator.

"I'm sure you remember what happened back at Black Mesa."

"Boy do I." Gordon said, very unpleasant memories ran through his head.

"Well Dr. Kleiner figured out how to control that process and now we've figured out how to use it to swing around Xen and come back into local space."

"Huh. Taking after the Combine?" He asked. The elevator door closed and they began their descent.

"Actually no, we're ahead of them on this one. Eli's pretty sure their portals are string based, but they didn't account for dark energy. They can tunnel through from their universe but that's all." She paused briefly. "What they wouldn't do for our teleportation technology."

Gordon almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. They actually found a way to control and harness the almost limitless power of dark energy. "What else could we have done in 20 years?" He wondered.

"Hey look there he is." Judith chimed in, "nice timing."

The elevator opened and Gordon stepped out.

"Well if it isn't Gordon Freeman." Eli said as Gordon walked over. "My god you haven't changed a bit, how do you do it?"

Gordon shrugged.

"Well I don't have much to say right now. Feel free to look around Gordon. We're gonna get you outta that hazard suit and back into your lab coat where you belong." Eli explained.

"I'm gonna go finish finish a couple things up, I'll be right back." Judith said walking into a room.

Gordon scanned the room and noticed a bunch of newspaper clippings hanging on a wall. "What are those about?" He asked.

"They're old papers from when the Combine took over the planet." Eli explained, "or Breen's rise to power, depending on how you look at it."

"That explains why he was on all those monitors back in the city." Gordon thought to himself. Just then the door opened.

"Gordon you made it!" He turned to see Alyx coming into the room, as much as he didn't know her he was still glad to see her.


	11. The Reunion

**Chapter 11: The Reunion**

Chase went poking around a little bit and he found a room with a lot of weapons.

"Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to have any rifles would you?" He asked a man in the room.

"We have an old M1." The man told him.

"Is that it over there?" Chase asked spying a M1C on a shelf.

"Yep, none of us know how to use it so you can take it if you want the ammo for it is right under that shelf."

"Ok thanks." Chase said picking up the rifle and grabbing some rounds, he also saw a bayonet. He focused to take it in case anything got too close for comfort.

"Hey!" He heard Chell and turned around to see what she was so excited about, "Can I take this?" She was asking about a white and black, thing.

"You know what that is?" The man asked.

"Yeah I've used one before." Chell said grabbing the device.

"What is it?"

"It makes portals." She said.

"Can you show me?" Chase asked.

"Not here. There's no surfaces I can use."

"Oh." Chase was a little disappointed, portals would be cool, his dad had been working on doing that but they hadn't made it that far. "Let's go find Gordon."

"He should be downstairs, you can take that portal device, none of us want to use anything from Aperture." The man told them.

"Ok thanks." Chase said leaving the room and funding an elevator and taking it to the bottom floor. "Hey Eli!" He called when they got to the bottom floor.

"Good god… You're not who I think you are…" Eli said, clearly shocked.

"Depends, who do you think I am?" Chase said comically.

"We… I've gotta call your dad…"

"No don't, I'll let him find out for himself." Chase told him, "now where's your daughter?"

"She's outside with Gordon."

"Well, Chell you can head out that way, I'll try and surprise her." Chase told Chell. Eli opened the door for them and Chase climbed up on an old shipping container. He saw Dog throwing boxes to Gordon and he was catching them with some kind of gravity warping device.

Chase set up the rifle where no one could see him and watched Dog throw a couple boxes. Then he shot one in mid air, everyone flinched and started looking around for a sniper. Then Chase stood up and stepped out where he was easier to see.

"Oh my god…" Alyx said, she just froze.

Chase jumped down to her level. She still stood there in disbelief, Chase looked over and saw Gordon and Chell smiling at her reaction. He looked back down at Alyx to find her still staring. He moved his rifle to one hand and held out his arms. Alyx jumped up and he grabbed her a swung her around.

"I can't believe you're alive…" She said almost in tears, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too. How have you been?"

"Better now that you're back."

"What have you been up to?" Chase said setting her down.

"I've been helping with the underground out of City 17." Alyx said finally regaining her composure.

Just then Chase heard a mortar launch and looked to the sky to see where it was. It wasn't going to hit anyone but he wasn't about to stick around, he grabbed his newly found rifle and took off for the lab.

"He's right let's get back inside!" Alyx called from behind him.

A few moments later everyone was in the airlock and the doors were closed.

"What the hell is going on?!" Gordon asked.


	12. Welcome to Ravenholm

**AN: Sorry this took me so long, I've been slacking off the last week and haven't done much. Nonetheless, you can start to see why I rated this "M."**

 **Chapter 12: Welcome to Ravenholm**

Gordon watched as Alyx frantically tried to use some kind video monitor to reach her father.

"Alyx honey! You're all right!" Eli said when he finally made it through.

"What the hell is going on in there?" Alyx asked.

"Don't worry about it, just round everyone up and head for the coast!" Eli told her.

"We'll meet up with you and then…" Alyx got interrupted by the power getting cut. "Dammit!" She yelled in frustration. "Dog, Pry the door open so we can go find my dad and get out of here!"

Two seconds later Dog was smashing the airlock door open and Gordon followed the others on their way back to the lab.

As then ran down the final stretch of hallway the roof collapsed and partially burying Chase as well as cutting himself off from Chell and Alyx.

"We'll he's dead. I'm on my own now." Gordon thought to himself, he could have definitely used the help for whatever he was about to be forced into.

"Gordon, all I can say is get out of here. Dog, take him to the Ravenholm tunnel and then try to meet up with me." Alyx explained in a hurry before leaving with Chell close behind.

Gordon turned around to leave when he heard a muffled voice from behind him. He turned back around and realized where it was coming from. He pulled out the gravity gun and lifted a big piece of the rubble off of Chase.

"Thanks Gordon." Chase said standing up and gathering his weapons. "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

Gordon couldn't believe that Chase could survive a concrete slab falling on him but he didn't ask questions. Instead he followed him to where Dog was holding a door open for them and hurried through.

After wandering around for a few minutes Gordon noticed a ladder that was blocked off by a cage. He pulled the cage off with the gravity gun and began climbing. Chase wasn't too far behind him.

"Hello?" He called when he arrived at the top. He was in what he assumed to be some kind of shed. About then Chase arrived and followed him through the building, which opened up into a large open area between several buildings. "Oh shit…" He thought to himself, he looked at Chase and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"Gordon I think we should try and get through here as quickly as possible." Chase suggested grabbing a spud-bar.

"Agreed." Gordon said making his way over to a boarded up door. "Also, a spud-bar… You're kidding right?" He added picking up a nearby explosive barrel with the gravity gun and was about to use it to blow the door open when he heard a zombie.

"Umm what was that?!" Chase asked, ignoring the question.

"I see you." Gordon said and threw the barrel at the zombie blowing it in half. He turned back around and used another barrel to blow open the door.

"Nice job." Chase told him.

"Thanks, I hate headcrabs. I also hate zombies, but I mainly just hate the headcrabs."

"Can't say I blame you, is that what those things do to people?"

"Yeah, what a terrible way to die." Gordon commented.

Chase shuddered.

They continued into another shed with several saw blades lying around. Gordon realized the potential for destruction and picked one up with the gravity gun.

"Ahh!" He heard Chase yell from behind him and spun around to see what was happening just in time to watch a zombie get decapitated by a spud-bar.

There was a moment where they looked at each other before Gordon broke the silence, "I see why you brought that thing."

"Yeah," Chase said laughing, "truth be told, when they trained me for melee combat they wouldn't let me use a gun."

"Well duh?" Gordon was confused since "melee" doesn't encompass guns.

"When you're in the field you have your rifle, maybe also a handgun but that's it. Now your rifle jams, what do you use?" Chase asked.

"Oh…" Gordon felt stupid, he even knew about that part of boot camp from hearing about it. "Why didn't they let you do that?" He asked.

"I kept bending the gun barrels." Chase added laughing. "In all seriousness, I get a feeling that all that training will come in handy in this place."

"Hey, I just watched it come in handy." Gordon said, "now let's keep moving."

A few hours later they were in a cemetery looking for a way out when someone in the distance called, "Over here brothers!"

Gordon scanned the horizon beyond the approaching zombies-at this point he has learned to ignore them-for the man who called to them. Then he looked to the roof above him and saw someone holding a shotgun. "Here take this, you'll have need for it. I will meet you at the far end of the cemetery." The man said tossing down the shotgun.

Gordon picked up the shotgun and heard a rifle shot, and then another, and then another. He looked over at Chase, who had pulled out his rifle and was sniping zombies from a relatively safe spot. Gordon sat on a rock and watched Chase pick of the zombies at a rate of one every two seconds. "Geez!" He thought to himself, "I wish I could aim that fast!"

"Nice shooting." Gordon said after the horde had been killed.

"Thanks. Now let's catch up with that guy." Chase suggested. Gordon headed for the far end of the cemetery with Chase close behind.

When they arrived they saw the man from earlier. "Greetings brothers. You have made it through a very dark place. I suspect you have little to wish to remain around." The man said.

Gordon and Chase both looked at each other and nodded.

"Very well, the entrance to the mines is in that building over there. Farewell and best of luck to you on the path to your destiny." The man said.

"Hey Gordon..." Chase said when they got into the building.

"Yeah?"

"There's no windows in here and zombies can't open doors, we should probably bed down for the night since no zombies can get to us." Chase proposed.

Gordon shrugged, "I am tired, it's been a long day."

A few minutes later Chase broke the silence. "Sooo… What's your opinion on Alyx?"

Gordon felt his heart jump. "Umm… I don't really know her that well…"

"Who said I was asking about her personality?"

Gordon was silent for a few moments. "Well umm…" he tried to put it in a way that didn't seem awkward.

"Just spit it out we're both men here." Chase said almost laughing.

Gordon just say there eyeing him suspiciously.

"I'll tell you what I think," Chase said, "I think she's easy to look at."

"I can't say I disagree with that…" Gordon said, this felt like college all over again. "Don't you already know her?"

"Yeah but the last time I saw her she was six, now… She's 'matured' quite a lot." Chase paused before continuing, "You should give it a go Gordon." He said lying down.

Gordon felt his heart jump again, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Just be there for her when she needs you, she's not complicated, just not what you'd expect." Chase told him, drifting off.

Gordon laid there contemplating what had just happened. "I guess I haven't got anything to lose." He whispered to no one in particular before falling asleep.


	13. To the Coast!

**Chapter 13: To the Coast!**

Chase sat up and stretched. He looked around and noticed Gordon was still asleep so he decided to examine the new shotgun he'd been given. It was a 12 gauge combat shotgun and had a choke in the end. "Ok," he thought to himself, "I'm probably not gonna use this because I hate using shotguns without a stock." He sat there looking the gun over and began wondering if it fired shot or buckshot. He figured he could shoot the gun to find out, but he didn't want to wake Gordon up just yet, he could probably use the extra sleep.

Chase got up and looked around the room. He noticed the entrance to the mineshaft that they were told about yesterday. The wooden beams formed a tower that he could climb to get to the roof. He decided to climb up and see what there was to see, at least now it was daylight.

Chase laid his weapons down and began the 20ft climb to the roof. When he got there he pulled himself out onto the roof, there was another room with winch controls. He looked around through the barred up windows to try and get his bearings. He lost his sense of orientation when they left Eli's lab.

He heard some seagulls and remembered Eli telling Alyx to get everyone to the coast so he began to look for the ocean. After moving to the opposite side of the tower he heard a voice from below.

"Chase?!"

It was Gordon.

"Dammit Chase where are you?!"

"I'm up here!" Chase replied poking his head through the hole he'd climbed through.

"What are you doing up there?" Gordon asked. "The mineshaft is below us."

"Trying to find the coast we're headed for." Chase replied, "speaking of, can you toss me my rifle? I can't see much."

"Sure thing." Gordon said throwing up the rifle. Chase grabbed it and used the scope to see out the window. He noticed a crane in the distance.

"I see a crane." He thought out loud, examining it further. The crane was part of an old dock. He kept looking and noticed some people running around. "Aha!" He said. "Gordon I've found which way we're headed!"

"Good! Let's get out of here then." Gordon called back.

Chase didn't say anything he saw a bunch of airships of some kind flying in overhead. One of them landed and a full squad of the same guys he and Chell had run into in the woods jumped out. The other ships did the same thing.

"Everything alright up there?" Gordon asked.

Chase scoped out and began climbing down. "They're mobilizing to storm a rebel base up ahead we've gotta get going and beat then there. They'll probably have no idea what's coming until it's too late." Chase said gathering his weapons. "Let's move!" He said climbing down the shaft with Gordon right behind him.

When they got to the last beam Chase began to scan the floor and noticed dozens of headcrabs running around. "Gordon how good are you at sniping?"

"Not as good as you but it beats trying to fight them on the ground." Gordon replied.

Chase pulled out his shotgun (the one that fired slugs) and began shooting. Gordon pulled out his 9mm and began doing the same.

Within 2 minutes all the headcrabs were killed and they were on their way to the surface. Along the way they had picked up plenty of ammunition and were restocked before heading back outside.

"Ok you first." Gordon said while motioning for Chase to step out into the open.

Chase didn't hesitate but was still very careful, they were walking into an old railway, perfect for sniping. He looked around and didn't see anybody so he motioned for Gordon to follow.

"I got your 6." Gordon said following him.

Chase walked over to under an overpass and heard a rifle shot, he and Gordon both jumped. Chase looked up and noticed a sniper beam like he'd seen in the woods. It was picking off a few zombies from further along the rails. "Hey Gordon..." He whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Have you got a hand grenade?"

"Yeah." Gordon answered pulling one out.

"Lob one up there where that beam is coming from, it's a damn sniper." Chase said, he was irritated that they might have been too late.

"Alright." Gordon said tossing the grenade up into the hole where the sniper was hiding. The explosion flung the body of the sniper out onto the tracks.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Gordon asked.

"Soldiers of some kind would be my guess. Chell and I ran into a bunch of these guys in the woods." Chase answered. He looked up and noticed a block of the soldiers, as he assumed, marching towards the base. "Oh thank god!" He thought, "we're not to late."

Chase pulled out his chaingun and led Gordon towards the enemy.

"Nice gun..." Gordon said.

"Wait about ten seconds and you'll get to see her in action." Chase commented. "Stay behind cover and feel free to shoot, I'm gonna try and storm them."

"Are you insane?!" Gordon answered, "You're outnumbered 30 to 1!"

"I'll be fine, you can get closer than this but if you start hurting get back. If I start hurting I'll fall back and meet you."

"I still think you shouldn't do this." Gordon said.

"I'll be fine just watch me." Chase said runing in with his chaingun ready. Once he got within 20 or so yards he opened fire. He'd mown down 10 guys before the rest of block knew what was happening. Then the bullets starting coming but he stood his ground. Before you could tell what was happening over half the block was on the ground. About then he heard shotgun fired coming from behind him. It was Gordon coming in to help out. In another five seconds flat the entire battalion was done for and Chase and Gordon were ready to move on.

"How are you still alive?" Gordon asked, "I watched you get shot by these guys."

Chase just shrugged, he didn't want to reveal his secret just yet. "I told you I'd be fine." He said, "Now let's go."

"Just a sec." Gordon said, "I'm taking one of these." He added picking up a very fancy looking battle rifle off the ground.

"Good Idea." Chase said.

"Gordon Freeman?! You made it?!" A voice came from ahead of them.

"Yeah. Chase over there just mowed down an entire battalion for you guys." Gordon answered.

"Well thanks for that." The man said.

"He helped." Chase said, "we saved you guys from a pretty big attack."

"I can see that. We've got a base up ahead I'll take you guys there." The man told them.

"We're right behind you." Chase said following him back to the base. When they arrived a woman answered the door and said, "You've found Dr. Freeman, I've been talking to Alyx, she wants to talk to him..."


	14. Telecommunications

**Chapter 14: Telecommunications**

"Alyx come in!"

Chell heard a voice from the radio.

"Alyx are you there?"

There were footsteps.

"Yes I'm here, we were just getting ready to leave. What do you need Leon?"

Chell quit foraging through things and went to meet up with Alyx, (after hearing about Ravenholm the night before she hoped that Chase and Gordon would make it out alive).

As she made her way over to the monitor the man on the other end of the line replied, "You'll never guess who we found..." Before calling to someone offscreen.

Alyx sighed of relief when Gordon moved in front of the screen. Chell was a little worried that Chase didn't make it, (even though she hardly knew him, he just made good first impression).

"Thank god you made it!" Alyx said sounding relieved.

"Hey I didn't do it alone." Gordon said.

"Where's Chase then?!" Chell blurted out, everyone looked at her. She could have slapped herself.

"He's arguing with the medic." Gordon said laughing, "We took on a combine battalion. And by 'we' I mean it was 90% him. Anyway, he ate plenty of rounds but stood his groun. He claimed he was fine but the medic wanted to look at him."

"Wow..." Alyx said.

"Yeah I'll call him out." Gordon said before calling for Chase.

A few seconds later Chase walked in front of the camera and the front of his uniform was red. Chell felt her eyes widen from the shock, she could see why the medic wanted to look at him, half his chest was soaked in blood.

"Good god..." Alyx said.

"I'm fine!" Chase said, he sounded angry, "Alyx what's going on?"

Alyx took a moment to think before explaining the situation. "Ok look. They got ahold of my father and Jusith yesterday and we've been scrambling to get stuff together and catch a train to Nova Prospekt. As for you two, I need you guys to make your way along the coast until you get there. Once we all meet up we'll find my dad and Judith and then we'll all have to fight our way out." Chell was a little concerned for Chase. He was no doubt tough but it still scared her for some reason.

"Hold on a second," the man said, "there is no way in hell they'll make it on foot, the antions are in the middle of spawning season."

Alyx answered, "that's why I called you. If you guys still have that scout car my dad rigged with the tau cannon you could send them on that, then they'd get there about the same time we did."

"Good idea." The man said, "I'll send them on their way."

"Thanks Leon." Alyx began, "Gordon, Chase, I haven't driven the coast in a long time but I doubt it's any form of safe. Just follow the coastline and it should run you all the way to Nova Prospekt. The Combine's been cracking down on the out posts along the way but there are still a few of the around." She paused for a moment. "Take care of yourselves out there and we'll meet you in Nova Prospekt."

"Alright meet you there." Said Gordon before walking off screen.

"We'll see you two there." Chase said before Alyx turned of monitor. She looked worried.

"Are you alright?" Chell asked. She hoped Alyx trusted her enough to open up a little.

"Yes... I'm fine. But... I'm a little worried about those two..."

"Why's that?" Chell asked.

"Well you just saw what Chase did to himself. He was always tough but I guess the military made him feel expendable and now... Now he's likely to let himself get killed while defending us." Alyx said.

"Yeah he seems like the kind of guy who will kick back and have fun but he values the lives of those he cares about more than his own." Chell felt a little awkward saying that so she changed the subject. "And what about Gordon?" She asked trying to distract herself.

Alyx was silent. Chell knew what was going on and when they made eye contact Alyx could apparently tell what she was thinking.

"Shut up!" Alyx said shoving her our of embarrassment. "My father's already onto me I don't need you pressuring me too."

"Don't worry." Chell said, she had some sympathy for her (after all she was having a similar problem of her own), "Speaking of your dad let's go catch a train and meet up with them.

"Good plan." Alyx said grabbing her pistol and Chell followed her back to some place called City 17.


	15. Buggy Ride

Chase sat in the passenger seat of a vehicle that was literally just a frame, engine, transmission and the "tau cannon" as it was called. He was shooting the antions as they dug out of the ground. "God these things are already annoying!" He said as Gordon drove over one, crushing it.

"Tell me about it." Gordon replied. "How far do you think it is to the next base?" He added after a moment.

"Umm..." Chase said looking around for a landmark. For whatever reason, he had a really good sense of orientation. Once he found the mark he did some figuring. "About a quarter mile." He said after figuring it out.

"Ok you're just making stuff up now aren't you?" Gordon said.

"I'm not, you'll see." Chase said. He forgot that Gordon didn't get the chance to look at the map, so he probably didn't know where they were.

"Hey, there it is..." Gordon said eyeing Chase suspiciously. "How in the hell did you do that?"

Chase shrugged, "Call it a gift I guess..." Honestly, even he wasn't sure how he was so good at it. It must have been one of the "skills" he was "given."

Just then Gordon pulled into the base and shut the car off (hardly a car by Chase's standards but it wasn't that important).

"Hey Dr. Freeman! We heard you were headed our way." A man said as they climbed out of the car.

"Well we're here." Gordon answered. There was a moment of silence before the man continued.

"You two'd better get inside. We're expecting an attack any minute now." The man said.

Chase didn't say anything and went inside. When poked his head around the corner and saw an RPG propped up against a wall. "Hey Gordon!" He called.

"Yeah?" Gordon said walking up behind him.

"Get a load of this." he said picking up the launcher.

"Hey, I've used one of those before." Gordon said, "I took out a chopper in the canyons around Black Mesa."

"Oh yeah?"Chase said recalling the day he'd been "hired."

"Yeah. It too two shots and then some guy fell out of it and was lucky enough to land on a ledge. I could have killed him before he regained his composure but there was already a lot of people above him so I didn't mess with him."

"Good thing." Chase said. He realized what had brought his squad's chopper down.

"Why?" Gordon asked.

"Because that was me..." Chase said.

"Oh my god..." Gordon said backing away in shock.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We've got bigger issues right now." Chase said. Gordon regained his composure just as woman with an SMG ran downstairs into the room.

"They're Coming!" She yelled before running back upstairs.

"That's odd..." Chase thought out loud.

"What?" Gordon asked.

"A woman in combat..." Chase realized how sexist he was sounding but he didn't care, women in general just don't like combat, and moreover aren't good at it. He'd seen them try, it concerned him...

Gordon didn't say anything and instead gave him a dirty look.

"Ok look," Chase began, "We can stand here and argue, or we can go fight off their attack. Now let's go!" He said tossing Gordon the launcher and pulling out his chaingun.

As they ran outside Chase saw a large block of soldiers coming in from off in the distance.

"Holy shit!" He yelled.

Just then he heard a sound resembling a helicopter, followed by an RPG explosion. He turned to see an airship of some description firing at them. Chase dove behind a rock just in time to dodge the incoming fire. Then Gordon popped out and fired another rocket at it. Chase looked back over at the impending army. The antlions were digging out of the sand and slowing them to a crawl. He heard another explosion and then it clicked. He pulled out his grenade launcher and began firing into the middle of the block. Huge plumes of sais, antlions, and soldiers went flying.

After a couple shots the block finally began to disperse. Chase put away his launcher and pulled out his rifle. He began picking off enemies one by one. A few seconds later he heard cheering accompanied by several explosion coming from behind him and he turned around to watch the ship explode, just as another one appeared. Chase was ready to return to sniping when he saw a small group of soldiers nearing the way he and Gordon had arrived from. Acting on impulse he pulled out his chaingun and ran to meet them.

After dodging some incoming fire he hid behind a building. "Man," he thought to himself, "what I wouldn't do for some sticky-bombs or mines right now." Just then he saw a soldier come around the corner. Chase revved his gun and opened fire. He was pretty well able to mow down most of the soldiers but some did make it past him for the rest of the gang to take down.

A few minutes later, the second ship had been taken down, and the soldiers that made it past him were taken care off.

There were cheers about how "Gordon had taken down two gunships." Chase was silent, the pain from all the bullets he'd been hit by from the soldiers was starting to set in.

"Hey!" He heard an angry voice and looked to find the same woman whom he'd seen in the basement. "Why didn't you take out those ten soldiers. They had to come right by you!"

Chase paid her no heed and just walked back to the car where Gordon was waiting for him so they could leave. As they drove off Gordon looked at him suspiciouly.

"What?" Chase asked.

"Why didn't you take out those guys?" Gordon asked.

"Because there was a hell of a lot more than ten." Chase answered, "It was just that ten managed to get by me."

"Oh..." Gordon replied, "Ok new question; why didn't you say that back there?"

"Because it wasn't worth my time." Chase answered, "Any other questions because this is starting to hurt." He said trying to loosen a knot in his chest from where a bullet hit him.

Gordon shook his head.

"Good, now let's keep moving."


	16. An Unfortunate Capture

**AN: Something I've been considering doing is making this story into a SFM movie. I don't currently have a computer remotely capable of running SFM but I've been saving up to get one and even then I'll need people to voice the characters (the voices being wrong will drive me insane just like many of you I'm sure) but I** **think I can get the support from some friends to make that happen. At this point it's still a hard** **maybe.**

 **Chapter 16: An Unfortunate Capture...**

Gordon followed the light at the end of the tunnel. He and Chase had found nothing but Combine forces and Antlions for the last two hours. He was exhausted but Chase seemed fine somehow, "probably his training." He thought to himself.

"Hey Chase." He began.

"Yeah?" Chase answered.

"How far to the next base?" Gordon asked. Chase had proven he had navigational skills that were supernatural, maybe he could figure it out again.

"It should be right up here on the left." Chase answered. "We're headed for Lighthouse Point right?"

"I think that was what the map back at the bridge said." Gordon replied driving out into the daylight. Once his eyes adjusted he looked to his left to find a lighthouse. "Ok seriously how do you do that?" He asked Chase.

Chase shrugged. He didn't seem to want to talk about it. It made Gordon wonder what secrets he had locked up in his past...

A few moments later they were greeted by rebels manning the base. They told them that the Combine was on their tail and to get the "car" in the garage.

"Alright you two." A man told them as they walked out of the garage, "you'll have to go on foot from here. There's a path along the cliff side, but we could definitely use your help fighting off this attack."

"Alright let's do this." Chase said pulling out his shotgun.

"Hey what's your name son?" The man asked Chase.

"Chase Kleiner, United States Marines." Chase answered and shook the man's hand.

Just then Gordon heard a sound he recognized from earlier. It was a..."What were they called again?" Gordon thought to himself.

"Everyone get inside! It's a gunship!" He heard a woman yell from around a corner. He suddenly remembered the name of the thing anyway.

Gordon ran over and ducked behind a wall. Chase followed him.

"Dropship coming in over the road!" Someone called. Gordon watched as Chase sighted in with his shotgun.

"What the hell do you think a shotgun is gonna do from here?!" Gordon asked.

"Get up here and watch. The gunship's distracted." Chase answered.

Gordon peeked over the wall and watched. He knew shotgun ammo spread out the farther you were from the target. He'd learned that from experience.

"You watching?" Chase asked.

"Yeah." Gordon asked. Just then Chase opened fire. Every shot was an instant kill. Some even killed two soldiers in one shot.

"Ok that's not a shotgun..." Gordon said after the soldiers were down.

"Yeah it is. I'm just shooting slugs instead of buckshot." Chase answered. "Get Down!" He added as the gunship came back.

Gordon ducked to avoid the fire.

"Hey!" The man who greeted them said as he ducked behind the wall. "If you've got a launcher, there's a crate of rockets in the lighthouse."

"Well shit," Chase said. "Go on Gordon I'll cover the ground."

Gordon made his way to the lighthouse, dodging gunfire and killing a few soldiers along the way. He ran up the stairs inside the lighthouse and found the crate of rockets. He popped his head out and found the gunship. It was busy firing at Chase so he fired a rocket at it. He ducked back inside to reload and to avoid the fire headed his way.

While he was reloading he heard the ship right over his head. He looked up just in time to see an explosion that blew one wing off the ship. He ears rang from the noise but he fired another rocket into the belly of the ship. He ran over to the crate, grabbed another rocket and reloaded. The ship had gone back over so Gordon hot if with one last rocket. The explosion blew the blades off the ship and caused it to explode in midair. He heard cheers from below.

"Well I can hear again." He thought to himself as he grabbed a few more rockets and made his way down to the base of the lighthouse. Chase and a medic were waiting for him.

"Hell of a show Freeman." Chase said laughing.

"Yeah. Way to show that gunship who's boss." The medic said in agreement. "And you had a hell of a showing on the ground too." He said to Chase.

"It was nothing." Chase said. "Now where's this secret path you were talking about?"

"Right along there." The medic said opening the door. "Head across the beach and there's a vortigaunt camp there. They'll help you get into Nova Propekt. You'd better get going. Eli's counting on you."

Just then there was an explosion that killed the medic and knocked Chase over.

"APCs!" Someone yelled off in the distance.

"Get out of here Freeman!" He heard Chase yell as he looked to watch him get hit by a rocket. The blast catapulted him into the wall. Gordon backed away slowly as he watched four soldiers in white suits drag him out of the rubble.

Chase mouthed the words "Go! Get out of here!" Before his eyes fluttered shut...


	17. Intervention

**Chapter 17: Intervention.**

Chase slowly came to. He heard the sound of some kind of jet engine outside. The room he was in had no windows. There were two bright, fluorescent-looking lights in the ceiling. He continued to look around before trying to sit up. It was than that he found out he was locked into some kind of table.

He started to panic but collected himself. Just then the same man who'd "hired" him was standing there looking at him. Chase just looked at him blankly. He felt like he had failed. He'd let Gordon down, he'd let Alyx down, he'd let Chell down. He felt almost like he'd let all of humanity down.

"Well done corporal." The man said. Chase went from feeling resentment to curiosity. This guy had to be being sarcastic.

"You have done nothing to deserve what's about to happen to you." The man continued, "but I'll be sure to reward you after all is said and done." Chase panicked and began wondering what was about to happen to him.

"You have been hurt a lot in your days. Most of the pain you won't remember, for now." Chase was now completely lost. He couldn't remember his early childhood, but that was normal. What the hell what this guy talking about?

"Now, on to the matter at hand," the man said with a change in tone. "When you're in the state youre needed in, you'll see a woman who will look vaguely familiar." Chase heard footsteps coming towards him. "Look into her eyes and you'll lwarn things about yourself that you never knew..." The man finished before seeming to fade off into nothingness.

Just then six soldiers burst into the room. Two were holding the same rifle that Gordon had picked up outside of Ravenholm, and the othe four lifted him up. He felt a jolt as the ship he was in landed. The door promptly opened and he was rushed into what looked like a prison. "Nova Prospekt..." He read a sign on the door he was carried in through. It took a moment but it eventually hit him that this was where Alyx had sent them. "She said that it used to be a prison." He recalled but he also knew that she said it wasn't a prison any more, it's now sonething much worse...

Chasd was roughly laid down onto a platform that tilted him upright. For a moment he was going to bolt as soon as they opened the thing he was in. But it didn't open. Instead a large robotic arm came out of the ceiling and lifted him up to done kind of transport network. The arm let go of him and the, whatever it was, that he was in began to "crawl" along the track.

As he was being carried along to someplace he would only find out about when he arrived, he noticed that there were several pod looking things on the walls surrounding him. He wondered what was in them. He didn't have to wait long because he turned his head to find one being opened, there were people inside those pods! Living, breathing, humans!

"What the hell are they doing to all these people?!" Chase thought to himself.

A few minutes later he saw an entire wall of rooms, all of them had people lain out on tables being drilled into, cut open, and operated on by robots. "Oh my god..." Chase thought to himself. He then realized that he was next...

Chase came into a room that looks exactly like all the other's he'd seen. The machine laid him out on what he could only equate to an operating table. He watched in horror as the Maxine unfolded all the mechanisms that were about to be inside of him.

He felt helpless as an arm with a knife descended towards him, before abruptly slicing through his abdomen...

Chase had never felt anything worse in his life...


	18. Infiltration

**Chapter 18: Infiltration.**

Gordon pulled out his shotgun me began shooting the antlions that had followed him up the hill. Once they were all dead, he sat down for a minute to recover from the stress of tediously crossing that beach. The slightest touch to the sand and a swarm on antlions would attack him. He got up hoping that he was done dealing with antlions and sand. He looked in the direction he was headed only to find more sand. But at least now there were explosives lying around, those had served him well in the past.

Gordon jumped down and broke a couple of supply crates and took the shotgun ammo from them. He was surprised that no antlions were tearing him apart yet. One look out over the sand revealed why, there was what he assumed to be a "queen" antlion coming straight for him. He took off in a dead heat sprinti for the other end of the sand pit. He took the gravity gun and picked up a couple explosive barrels and chucked them at it. He repeated the process again which finally did the beast in. He walked around and picked up some supplies that he'd seen during the fight.

He picked up some grenades for his SMG and was spooked by a vortigaunt that had appeared out of nowhere.

"The Freeman must follow." It said.

"Uhh, ok..." Gordon said. He followed the vortigaunt over to the dead, thing.

"It would be wise of the Freeman to heed our extraction of the guardian's aromatic pheropods. The process isn't very hygenic, so please stand aside."

Gordon did as he was told. The vortigaunt used its electrical attack on the body and several "pheropods" fell out.

"The Freeman will need these pheropods in the near future. Gather them now."

Gordon picked up all of the pheropods. They seemed oddly squishy but the casing was more rigid. Then the vortigaunt took off and Gordon did his best to follow.

He was led to a chain-link fence and there was a man standing there.

"Go on Dr. Freeman," he said, "Nova Prospekt is just ahead. One man alone wouldn't stand much chance going in there, but a man with a pack of antlions, well that's a different story."

Gordon still had no idea what these things did, but he wondered if they would let him control antlions or something. That guy did say "a man with a pack of antlions."

"Come Freeman, and learn to use your pheropods." Said the vortigaunt. Gordon followed it to some kind of training course.

After the instruction was finished, the vortigaunt told him how to get to Nova Prospekt and sent him on his way. Except now it was him and a pack of antlions. He wasn't scared of soldiers any more.

After disabling a couple of thumpers, he came to what resembled a WWII style bunker. He threw a pheropod to try and bait them out. It worked and he just stayed back until the antlions had cleared out the soldiers. He repeated a similar process for around a hour before he found himself inside the outer wall.

He killed the staff at several guard towers and made a push to get to higher ground. Once he got there however, he found himself under attack by a gunship. And then another one.

Gordon dove for cover and took out his RPG.

After another quarter hour he had taken out both gunships and one had blown a hole in the wall when it crashed. Gordon climbed up in and made his way to a door.

"Nova Prospekt" he said quietly reading a sign by the door. "I guess I made it..."

With that he opened the door and began wandering around. He found his way into some kind of security office. On the other side there were some tripod turrets that were shooting at the antlions. He used the gravity gun to knock over the turrets and let the antlions in. He figured they'd come in handy.

Sure enough they did, every other room he came to had Combine soldiers inside. He let the bugs do their thing and then was able to slowly make his way through the prison.

After almost an hour he found himself overlooking a large room. Eerily resemblence of a cafeteria. Then he heard a train.

"Alyx!" He thought to himself, he remembered that he had to meet her in the train depot. "Now how do I get there?" He wondered.

Just then he heard gunfire below him. He looked to see another guardian fighting a bunch of soldiers. He jumped down and found his way into an area where the guardian couldn't reach him. He then followed the sound of trains into a long corridor with very bizarre looking walls.

After he jumped down into the bottom of the corridor, he heard a familiar sound... "Oh shit!" He thought out loud, he turned and ran. "How the hell did you follow me here?!"

Before he got to the other end of the corridor he heard the sound of metal cracking and groaning. He looked up to see a segment of the wall about to drop in front of him. He stopped abruptly and looked for a way out. Then he spotted a ledge, and the guardian running for him. Without much thought, he fired an SMG grenade at the guardian, which stunned it just as another segment of the wall fell, crushing it.

"Take that! You little bastard!" He yelled as he climbed up and ran away. "I've been spending to much time with Chase," he thought, "Now I'm swearing like he always does..."


	19. Grouping Up

**Chapter 19: Grouping Up.**

Alyx got out of the train cautiously. She wasn't sure how many soldiers were around or where they were.

"I don't see anything." Chell whispered from behind her. "How about you?"

"We're clear." She answered relaxing her stance.

"Hey Alyx!" She heard Gordon's voice. It sounded like he was under the tracks.

"Gordon! Thank god you guys made..." She trailed off when she didn't see Chase. "Uhh where's Chase at?" She asked. She knew she was probably worrying too much but she missed him. It had been 20 or so years since he left for boot camp. She had a lot to talk to him about.

"Uhh... Heh heh..." Gordon began nervously, "The Combine got him..."

Alyx heard Chell gasp and felt her heart jump into her throat. If the combine got him that meant one of two things: he was dead, for real this time, or he was here...

"Uhh you alright?" Gordon asked. She blinked as she realized she was staring into space. She was a little embarrassed that he'd caught her.

"Yeah I'm fine." She replied. "Have you seen him anywhere?" She asked trying to Change the subject.

"Not yet. Do you think he's here?" Gordon answered.

"I hope so..." She said hoping they'd be able to find him. "Let's get out of here." She said jumping down to his level. Chell followed her and she led them to an elevator and opened the door. Everyone got in and the elevator started moving up.

"Ok, first things first, anyone short on supplies, I have no idea what we're getting into. The only information we have about the place comes from the few vortigaunts that have been captured."

"I could use some ammo." Chell cut in.

"Here." Gordon said handing her two magazines before pulling out his shotgun. Alyx had to admit, this guy knew how to handle himself, she liked that.

"Get ready..." She said refocusing her thoughts.

Just then the door opened and the Fire began. After all the soldiers were cleared Alyx found her way into a room with a console. She walked over to it and began to try and find the storage area. "Aha!" She said after managing to get in, "now to find my dad and Chase."

"You do that. I'll guard the door, I don't feel like getting flanked." Gordon said as he walked over and stood by the door.

"He's protective too..." Alyx thought to herself before returning to her search.

"Any luck?" Chell asked.

"I've found my dad. I'll try and bring him in. Maybe he has something to tell us." Alyx answered. She waited to make sure his pod was on the way and once she saw it she ordered everyone to move out.

They fought their way to the room where her dad was. She opened the pod and a robotic arm brought her dad down so he could talk to her.

Her dad looked around the room briefly.

"Dad?" Alyx asked. She was worried something was wrong.

"I'm fine but, what happened to Chase?" He answered.

Alyx felt a knot form in her throat. Here she was trying to help her father and get him out and now she'd have to tell him bad news.

"The Combinegot ahold of him..." Gordon cut as if he knew what she was thinking.

Her father was silent.

"We were almost to the vortigaunt camp and then..." Gordon paused a moment. He seemed to blame himself for what happened. "Then they took out a wall behind him and... It's all a blur but... The explosion knocked both of us over and the Combine went straight for him..." He paused again looking down at the floor, "It all just happeed so fast, I froze..."

"Hey take it easy on yourself Gordon, it wasn't your fault." Alyx said trying to be supportive. She could tell she'd got his attention. "The point is," she added turning back to her father, "We're here to break you out."

"Don't worry about me. Go get Chase." Her dad told her.

"We didn't come all this way for nothing dad." She replied, "We're getting you out of here."

Her dad was silent for a moment before answering. "Ok what's you plan baby?"

"Dr. Kleiner's portal was almost working again before we took off. If he's madaged to repair it we'll end up there. If not, well we're better off dead than with you here." She explained.

"Is it worth the risk?" He asked.

"Yes. It is. I'm going to send you to the teleport chamber. We'll meet you there." She told him.

"Don't just take me, get Judith and Chase also."

"Don't worry dad we'll find them." She said, hoping that she could locate them. "We'll get there as soon as we can."

"I'll see you there baby." Her dad said before being out back in the pod and being sent off.

"Well..." Alyx said, "Let's get going."

"Hang on a second." Chell said. Alyx turned around to find her poking around in the computer.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Alyx blurted out. She don't want the combine to be tracking them down.

"Hey take it easy Alyx." She answered, "I think I've found something..."

Alyx looked at the monitor and couldn't believe what she was looking at...


	20. The Recovery

**Chapter 20: The Recovery...**

Chell stepped back from the computer. She'd been poking her way through the system and had largely figured out the organizational method used to keep track of everything.

"How did you find him?" Alyx asked her, still in awe.

Chell shrugged, "It was kinda easy. There's a logical way it's organized. Figure that out and you can probably find anybody in here."

"Well... Good job..." Alyx began, "But how do we get to him?"

"He's on the far side of the prison." Chell began, "I think I can get to him though."

"How are you going to do that?" Alyx asked.

"This." Chell answered holding out her portal gun.

"What is it?" Alyx asked.

"It makes portals." Chell explained. "If it works in here I can make may way to him from out there." She added motioning to the transportation network for the pods outside the window.

"Are you sure?" Alyx asked. "You don't want one of us backing you up?"

"I'll be fine. I don't think that soldiers can get out there." Chell explained. "You two had better go meet up with your dad. I'll go get Chase and meet up with you."

"Be careful out there." Alyx told her.

"I will." Chell said.

With that Alyx and Gordon took off to go get Eli, and Chell portaled her way out into the vast network of pods. Her portal gun worked on the concrete walls, she decided to stick to those and make her way along.

At first the trip was easy but as she got closer to where Chase was there were a lot more pods and she had to keep portaling around them to make it further.

Eventually she made it to a gigantic wall that consisted of thousands of glass chambers. Each one had a person inside. "He's gotta be here somewhere." She thought to herself. Just then impulsively portaled her way to the top of the room and looked out over everything. The scale of the facility was baffling.

As she took in the scene she noticed one person seed to be a lot larger than the rest.

"Chase!" She whispered after realizing who it was. She made her way down to his level and portaled inside the chamber. She looked around a little bit at first to try and take in where she was.

There was a computer on each side of the room and what resembled an operating table in the middle. Closer inspection of the table revealed that it was surrounded by a pool of blood that she'd somehow missed earlier.

"Oh my god..." She thought, "what did they do to him?" She added turning to look at Chase. He was in some kind of glass looking tube that was full of liquid.

Chell eyed him up, (now that she could do it without getting caught) and noticed that he had sutures all over his body. There was an incision through the middle of his chest, one across his gut, and one on each arm and leg.

Chell leaned in to get a better look and bumped her head off of the glass.

"Right I should probably take care of that." She thight to herself. She was glad no one saw that. She thought of ways to get the chamber open. She could find something and use it to smash the glass. She could shoot it and break the glass that way. The last, and probably best, option was to try to hack the computer that was hooked up to the chamber.

"Ugh!" She thought to herself, "Whete are you Alyx? Now that I need you."

She decided to try and shoot the glass open. She opened fire with her SMG.

Nothing happened...

"Shoot." She thought out loud, "Alright, well let's try and find something to smash this with."

She walked back over to the window edge of the chamber and looked around for something heavy. Of to the right she saw some beat up pods dropping onto the floor and being drug away by some kind of wiry humanoid figures.

At first she wondered what those things were but she refocused her thoughts and shot a portal on the wall across from Chase and thought to herself, "I hope this works..." Before shooting the other portal where the pods were landing.


	21. The Upgrade

**AN: I wanted Chell to have a role in combat that involved helping Chase. He was so insanely overpowered in the earlier parts of the story so I tamed him up a little bit and thus opened up a combat role for Chell.**

 **Chapter 21: The Upgrade**

Chase was abruptly awoken by a large metal object smashing into him. The next thing he knew he was lying on the ground in a pool of water and broken glass. He looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember anything. He didn't even know his own name. Eventually a part of the white celing turned darker and his vision finally sharpened to reveal someone standing over him looking down at him and studying him.

Then it happened, he looked the person in the eyes and saw a man with a briefcase flash in front of him and then, literally, his whole life flashed before his eyes... He remembered everything... Even stuff he didn't know before. His entire existence seemed to snap back to normality in an instant. He could feel his body again, he knew his name, he recognized the woman who was looking at him, he was overwhelmed.

He scrambled back and braved his back against a wall while trying to let his mind slow back down to normal. Chell sat diwn beside him and tried to be comforting, but it had no effect.

After the longest three seconds of his life, Chase finally felt in control of his mind a body again. "Ok that was scary as hell..." He thought to himself. It was then that he remembered that Chell was beside him hugging him. He returned the gesture by putting an arm around her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, not moving.

"Yeah." Chase answered. "We should get out of here." He added.

"Can you stand?" Chell asked standing up.

Chasw remembered all the sutures that were in him. "Maybe..." He said, shuddering at remembering the "surgery." He proceeded to try and stand up. He was sore, but he was able to do it.

"What did they do to you?" Chell asked running her hand over a line of stitches.

"Should I tell her?" Chase wondered. In the end he decided that getting out of here was more important.

"Well?" Chell said.

"I'll tell you later." He answered, "For now, let's get the hell out of here."

"Umm... You're not going out like that are you?" Chell said sounding a little embarrassed for him.

"Oh yeah," Chase thought to himself, "I'd better suit up." He continued aloud, "Alright guys what did you try and make me into?"He looked around the room for his old battle gear and couldn't find it. After a few moments he turned around and looked at where he'd been lying only a minute ago. The pod was drenched in water from breaking the glass and there was a little but of blood on the floor from where the glass had cut him. As he was studying the pod something behind the chamber caught his eye. It looked like a suit that he'd seen combine soldiers wear, only larger. He reached around the container and grabbed it.

"They were gonna make you a soldier?!" Chell exclaimed.

"Well duh." Chase andwrred, "They'd be stupid not to. I was a marine beforehand and..." He cut himself off. He still didn't want to reveal too much.

"And...?" Chell asked.

"Nothing..." Chase replied. "Where are Alyx and Gordon? I assume at least Alyx made it since you're here."

"They both did. We managed to find Eli and then I did some poking around to find you and made my way over here."

"Ok." Chase said. "First, thanks for coming after me. And second, where are they now?"

"They're looking for Judith and then they're going to use the Combine's teleporter to get out of here."

"Alright," Chase said. "Let's go meet up with them."

"Uhh how are you gonna find them?" Chell asked.

"I'm sure they'll call the overwatch in to get rid of them." Chase explained. "Wow," he thought to himself, "I probably know a lot about the combine that I just don't realize."

"The what?" Chell asked. He'd seen that coming.

"Soldiers." He answered. He was looking around for his weapon(s).

"Oh, ok." Chell said. Just then he noticed it on the wall. It looked like a shoulder mounted version of the strider cannons. He walked over and studied the weapon. It was roughly 5 feet long and had a shoulder mount and two triggers.

"Huh," he thought out loud, grabbing the weapon. "I wonder what these do." He added as he put the weapon over his shoulder. It didn't have any kind of sights but that didn't bother him. With explosives you just have to hit the general area to do damage.

"That thing's big..." Chell said, "Are you sure you can handle it?" Chase had an inaproproate thought for whatever reason.

"Yes." He said hiding his laughter and putting the cannon into it's carrying position. He continued to look around hoping to find his chaingun, or rather a Combine variant of his chaingun. He wasn't disapointed, he saw what he recognized as a heavier caliber version of a Combine pulse rifle, like the one Gordon had picked up outside of Ravenholm.

"Ok you're kinda scary now..." Chell said.

"Yeah," Chase answered, "And to think you'd be fighting against me instead of with me had you not broken me out of here."

"Yeah..." Chell said. "I'm glad I did."

"I'm sure you are." Chase said. "Let me grab my helmet and we'll get out of here. I don't want to get cornered in here." He added as he grabbed the helmet for his suit and put it on. Then he began to hear voices coming through the helmet...


	22. Mossman is a Spy!

**Chapter 22: Mossman is a spy! (Yes that was a TF2 reference. Hate me if you want.)**

Chell wondered why Chase hadn't moved yet, he seemed to be looking at something behind her, or maybe something on her, (she wouldn't admit it but she kinda hoped it was the latter.) After a few moments he pulled out his gun and motioned for her to follow. She nodded and followed him out of the room and into a long corridor.

When he got to the end he poked his head around the corner before looking back at her and taking his helmet off.

"There's a group of soldiers down there guarding Judith Mossman. You should probably stay here until I clear them out." He whispered, "That said if you get caught get down there with me. I'll do what I can to protect you."

"Ok." Chell said. She was glad to know that he was in fact looking out for her. "Unrelated note here; How did you know where to go?"

"There's two reasons," he began, "1: This helet has a 2-way radio in it. I'll have to talk to Alyx about making it a 1-way radio. 2: Apparently the Combine training is just a part of me now. It's weird but I know how their military works and my way around City 17 and this place."

"Alright," Chell wispered, "Go do your thing. I'll wait here."

"I'll be just a moment." He assured her before putting his helmet back on and taking off down the corridor.

Chell watched as he began to clear out the room.

"Chell!" She heard Alyx's voice from behind her. She flinched and turned to face her. "My dad's in the teleport chamber. We're looking for Mossman, have you seen her or Chase?"

Chell nodded and motioned around the corner. Alyx and Gordon looked around it with her.

"Umm... Where's Chase?" Alyx asked. Chell pointed to him. By then he'd had the room cleared and it was safe to go down there.

"Holy shit..." Gordon said. Chell had almost forgotten about him. "I'm glad he's on our side still..."

"Yeah." Alyx agreed. "Nice job on that by the way." Alyx told her patting her on the shoulder. As they got down there they noticed that he was now looking into a room. They all looked in to see what he was looking at.

"Mossman?!" Alyx was apparently surprised. "Wait but who's she talking to..."

Everyone listened in. She was talking about some combine project that had been stolen. Some man that no one could see told her to go find "him..."

"It's Breen..." Gordon said. "Why that little fucking traitor!" He said under his breath while reloading a gun of some kind.

"Damn her! I can't believe this!" Alyx mumbled clearly outraged.

Chell tapped Chase on the shoulder. He turned around and took his helmet off.

"You guys all made it." He whispered.

"Yeah but what the hell is going on here?" Alyx asked. Chase didn't answer at first. "She's been a spy this whole time?!"

"Apparently." Chase said. "The 'project' they're referring to is me..." He added after a moment.

"What?!" Alyx and Chell both asked simultaneously.

"They want him." He said pointing to Gordon, "And I was the one they were sending after you..."

Just then Judith seemed to finish her conversation and sighed in frustration. "God damn her!" Alyx said quietly but still enraged. "We've gotta get in there and teach her what for!"

"Alright." Chase whispered. "Stand back everyone. I'm gonna make and entrance."

"Don't kill her..." Alyx told him. "We might need her to get out of here. I'll go shut the door behind us." Alyx said as everyone backed away from him.

"Death's too quick for her anyway." Chase said pulling out his cannon and taking aim at the wall. A blue line appeared as the shot seemed to charge up. Then there was a loud boom and the glass wall was shattered.

Chell heard a shotgun pump and a pistol being cocked. She pulled out her SMG and followed the others into the room.

"Alyx! Gordon! I don't know how you got in here but get this guy away from me!" Judith said in a panic. She had been knocked

"Relax Mossman." Alyx said, "He's with the resistance." She paused briefly. "Unlike you." She added walking over to her with her gun still drawn.

"What?! What are you talking about?" Judith said putting her hands up.

"We just watched you talk to Breen." Gordon said angrily.

Judith didn't have anything to say in her defense so she just laid there, still in shock from the explosion.

"Get up Mossman." Alyx commanded, "We're reconfiguring this teleport and getting the hell out of here and you're coming with us."

"I was working on that before Dr. Breen called. I've already got the modulator programmed to emulate a Xen relay." Judith said finally pulling herself together. Chell was still lost in all the words she'd never heard before.

"That's our work you stole!" Alyx said, still enraged.

"'Our' work. That means mine too." Judith rebutted, "And I had to prove to Dr. Breen that your father would be invaluable to any further research from here."

"Enough bullshit!" Alyx yelled almost slapping her. Chell looked at Gordon and saw that he was surprised too. Chase meanwhile seemed completely fine with what was happening.

"Alright Gordon," Alyx said after a moment of searching through the database. "There's my dad, I just sent him into the teleport chamber."

"Alright." Gordon said making his way through a door that had just opened.

"Go on everyone." Chase said, "We'll be right behind you."

Chell followed Gordon and Judith through the door and into and large chamber with a tall, circular... thing. She heard Alyx and Chase conversing as they came into the room. She turned to look at them and just as they stopped talking and looked up at the "thing." Alyx was in awe but Chase didn't seem to alarmed, again.

"Hmm." she thought to herself, "He's more level-headed than I thought..." Chell wasn't very emotional herself so that was a plus in her eyes. (If anything were to ever happen between them.)

"Good god..." Alyx said in awe. Chell looked back up at the machine and thought the same thing.


	23. The Holdout Begins

**AN: Sorry I took so long to write this. I had a case of writer's block, but on the upside it gave me an excuse to go back and play the game again. Not that I really needed one.**

 **Chapter 23: The Holdout Begins.**

Chase stood there looking up at the teleporter while the others were discussing a way to get out of here. He had never seen the thing in person but he knew about it, probably thanks to the Combine. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about them hacking into his brain. One one hand it was impressive, on another they tried to rob him of who he was, and on a third hand he know had a major advantage that could help out a lot in the fight against the Combine. He wasn't quite sure what all the Combine had changed about him but he didn't really want to test it.

"Alright," he heard Alyx's voice and turned to where it had come from. "Let's bring my dad in." She added, seemingly to Judith.

Chase looked up to the ceiling to find Eli's pod being brought in.

"Dad!" Alyx called to him. "Sorry we took so long. I hope that wasn't to bad for you."

"Don't worry about me." He replied. "Hey you managed to break Judith out too!"

"Not exactly..." Alyx said looking angrily at Judith.

"Eli!" Judith cut in, trying to dodge the accusations about to come her way. "I'm so glad to see that you're okay!"

"Yeah, yeah," Alyx said, clearly irritated, "just enter the coordinates for Dr. Kleiner's lab and we'll get the hell out of here."

"Uhh Alyx..." Eli said sounding a little nervous, "Did, you guys manage to find Chase?"

Chase was surprised to hear his name. How had Eli found out that he'd been captured and why was he so concerned about him?

"Yeah he's over here!" Chase flinched as he heard Chell call from behind him, he knew Eli would want to see him so he walked over to where Eli could see him. Once he got there Eli looked down at him as his pod was moved into the teleporter.

"Look at you kid." Eli said after eyeing him up for a moment. "That girlfriend of yours sure is lucky."

"I think she knows." Chase said laughing. Alyx joined in after she realized who he was referring to.

"Ok," Judith said from the control panel, "We're all set."

"Good." Alyx said, "I'll tell Dr. Kleiner that we're headed his way." Chase hadn't heard anything about a teleporter until his Combine training, although he did remember his dad experimenting with teleportation at Black Mesa.

"Dr. Kleiner," Alyx said into the radio. "Are you there?"

"Yes," came the reply, "where are you Alyx?"

"We're in Nova prospekt. We have my dad in position to send him through once you're ready."

"I have the Xen relay up and running again. I'm ready for you."

Chase couldn't help but chuckle, his dad was always using technical terms for things. It was nice to know that he hadn't changed that much.

"What are you laughing at?" He heard Chell ask quietly. He jumped again and turned to face her.

"Okay first off," he whispered for no obvious reason, "How the hell do you keep sneaking up on me like that? And to answer your question, I was laughing at my dad."

Just then he heard an alarm go off. He assumed that it was Mossman messing with the controls that had set it off. "Careful Mossman!" He yelled turning around, "You're gonna get the Overwatch... called... on us..." he added, trying to take in what was happening in front on him. A split second later it clicked, Judith was trying to take Eli somewhere and leave everyone else to be killed by the Overwatch. He went to take his cannon and shoot the teleporter but stopped when he realized that that would: a) kill Eli and b) leave the rest of them stranded to be killed by the Overwatch. He switched back to his heavy-pulse gun, and tried to plan for the incoming Overwatch onslaught.

Meanwhile Alyx was frantically trying (in vain) to stop Mossman from escaping. She even called his dad back and told him to stop them, even though they weren't going there...

Chase quickly scanned the room. There were three exits but one would be easy to block. Of the other two, one was a larger door and the other was two smaller hallways that joined just before entering the room.

Before he could explain what he wanted to do he heard radio chatter off in the distance, but he couldn't quite tell what direction it was coming from. "Get ready!" He yelled, scanning between the different entrances ready to shoot anything that came running.

He heard a shotgun fire and Chell scream from behind him. He turned around just in time to feel the spread of buckshot sink into his chest. Without thinking he took out the soldier and looked at Chell. She had been shot in the arm but it wasn't bleeding fast enough to be a real issue. Chase helped her up and went back to the matter at hand. He noticed a large group of 10 or so soldiers coming at them down the corridor that he could block.

"Oh shit!" Gordon yelled when he saw the incoming soldiers.

"Hang on!" Chase yelled back pulling out his cannon. "Watch this!" He added taking aim at the roof of the corridor just above and in front of the soldiers. He charged up a shot and let it rip. The roof of the corridor collapsed on top of the soldiers and the corridor had been sealed.

"Ok." Alyx said, "If you three can keep this up, I'll reset the portal to get us out of here."

"Go for it." Chase said. They now had three people to guard two points so it was a little easier. He turned back to Chell and noticed the soldier's shotgun lying on the floor. He remembered wanting to give her a shotgun instead of an SMG so he picked it up. "Here," He said holding it out to her, "You've seen me use one of these before, just do the same thing."

"Umm ok..." Chell said nervously as she took the shotgun.

"Try and stick close to me." He told her, "I'm not particularly good with short range, if you can keep them off of me and stop them from flanking we should be fine." He explained. "You got all that?"

Chell nodded.

"Alright get ready." He said, "There's plenty more where they came from..."


	24. The Getaway

**AN: Wow this is starting to gain a bit of a following I'd say. I do apologize for not getting these chapters up as fast as I was initially but with school starting and everything else I'm probably not gonna be moving quite as fast. Thanks to everyone for reading this, your support is a great motivator!**

 **Chapter 24: The Getaway.**

Alyx took a moment to reload. She and Gordon had almost been overrun by a wave of soldiers, and every wave was bigger than the last.

She heard gunfire coming from the other door and looked up to see Chase and Chell working as a team. He was whittling then down as they charged them and Chell surprised them with a shotgun shell if they managed to get to Chase.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" She thought out loud. "Hey, Gordon!"

"What?" He replied.

"Get out your shotgun." She told him.

"Ok..." He sounded suspicious but did as she asked.

"You are feeling alright aren't you?" She wanted to make sure she wasn't going to get him killed...

"Yeah I'm alright." He answered.

"Good." Alyx said. "I'll do whatever damage I can with a pistol and you finish them off with your shotgun."

"Good idea..." Gordon said, he seemed impressed by her plan. (Not that she took that as a negative.)

"Here we go!" Chasw yelled just before opening fire. About two seconds later more soldiers started storming them. Alyx dis her best to whittle down the soldiers so that it would be easier for Gordon to finish them off. The only thing she hadn't accounted for was reloading time. But there weren't enough soldiers for that to be an issue. It seemed like most of the soldiers were headed for Chase and Cheel for some reason...

"Look out Alyx!" Gordon yelled. Alyx realized that she had let her attention drift and a group of soldiers had gotten by her. She panicked and started shooting. Before she knew what was happening Chase and Chell seemed to come from nowhere and and helped take care of that problem.

"Thanks..." She knew she'd just been saved.

"Don't worry about it," he replied, "Just get the hell out of here while you still can!" He ordered.

"Wait what about you two?!" Alyx asked in a panic. There was no way that only those two were going to be able to hold the soldiers off long enough for the teleporter to recharge.

Chase and Chell looked at each other briefly, before a determined look crossed Chase's face.

"We'll have to fight our way out. We'll meet up with you in City 17." Chase told her.

"Are you crazy?!" Alyx yelled. She knew that there was no way in hell that only the two of them were going to hold off what was headed their way by themselves.

"You should know," Chase said almost laughing, "It rubbed off on you!" All Alyx could do was watch as he and Chell charged headlong into a horde of soldiers and she couldn't do anything to help.

Just then Gordon put his hand on her shoulder as the teleporter began to rise. "It's okay." He told her, "You did all you could. They'll take it from here."

Alyx almost hugged him on the spot, (she probably would have if it weren't for the current situation.) That sentence seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear.


	25. Out of the Prison and over the Sand

**AN: I really do apologize for taking so long on these chapters, I've been adjusting to a new schedule and hopefully in the next week or two I'll have more free time to write. Anyway I do appreciate the support from all of you and I do plan on animating this story with SFM, the sound may be a bit of an issue but I'll see what I can do.**

 **Chapter 25: Out of the Prison and Over the sand...**

Chase looked up and watched as the teleporter exploded. He hoped that they had ported out before the explosion.

A couple seconds later he refocused his thoughts and turned to Chell. "We need to get the hell out of here." He said before finishing his plan. "Stand back!" He ordered as he charged up a shot to blow a hole in the wall. Without saying a thing he grabbed Chell and ran for it before the dust settle and they could be tracked.

After getting outside of Nova Prospekt he hid around a corner to catch his breath. A few moments passed and then he heard a weird sound the he hadn't heard before, almost like some kind of muffled explosion, then he heard it again. Then, before he could even start to process anything a swarm of antlions was on him and he was desperately trying to get them off.

A split second passed, but things feel a lot longer when you're out of breath and feel like you're fighting for your life, before the ground seemed to disappear out from underneath him.

"Ahhh!" he yelped before faceplanting into a concrete floor, "Oh lord... What just happened?" He asked rhetorically through shotgun fire and dying antlions. By the time he knew where he was Chell had killed off a few antlions and was waiting for him to regain his bearings.

"Are you alright?" She said, seemingly holding in a laugh.

"What the hell just happened?" Chase asked, he got up and looked out of a nearby window and Chell walked up beside him.

"I used the portal gun to get you out of there..." Chell said, she sounded a little flirty but Chase wasn't gonna call her out just yet, he wanted to make sure they were safe first.

He thanked her and began to actually take in what he was looking at. He looked around and saw a beach along with a bunch of thumpers. He then realized why he had been swarmed by antlions, all of the thumpers were turned off.

"How the hell did Gordon get through here with these all off?" he mumbled.

"What?" Chell asked listening intently.

"The thumpers," He explained, "They're basically modified pile-drivers which keep antlions, you know those giant bug things, out of sight."

"So if we turn those back on we can cross the beach?" Chell asked.

"In theory, yes" Chase replied, "I just wish there was a faster way to get to them." He looked to Chell to find that she had already used that "portal gun" as she called it to get to and turn on one of the thumpers. Chase stepped through the portal and Chell climbed down to him. He didn't know why but he found portals so disorienting. It probably had something to do with how good his navigation and spacial senses were, portals kinda screw with those a little bit.

Chase let take the lead and turn all of the thumpers back on before they arrived at a vortigaunt camp...

"Halt! Who treads on this entrance?" He heard a voice, he assumed to be a vortigaunt, call from the other side of the wall.

Chase and Chell looked at each other without answering and looked back to the wall.

A vortigaunt poked his head over the top and seemed surprised to see them. He turned and called to where he had come from, "Come! Feast your eyes on the one who has arrived at our place of residence!"

A number of rushing footsteps followed and Chase stood there like an idiot trying to figure out what the vortigaunt had meant. A few moments later several vortigaunts as well as several people looked over the gate and him.

"Is that..." One man began to asked but paused mid-sentence.

"It is." The vortigaunt answered.

The whole crowd began to murmur while Chase and Chell looked at each other, he could tell she was as lost as he was.

"Well..." a woman asked, "Are we gonna let them in?"

"Oh yeah," a man replied, "Good idea..."

"Do you know any of these people?" Chell whispered to him.

Chase shrugged and walked into the camp. He was greeted by a vortigaunt.

"Greetings to the young Kleiner!" It said.

"Umm..." Chase felt really awkward. Since he'd entered the military he had never been addressed formally by anyone. "Hey..." He finally managed to awkwardly say something.

"The Freeman informed us that you had been captured: and that he was seeking Nova Prospekt." It told him.

"Ahh." Chase said, "I see how you know who I am."

"Precisely how." The vortigaunt told him. "What has brought you to our location? Was it the destructive seen from earlier at Nova Proskpekt?"

"Well..." Chase said failing to hide a shy smile, "That might have partially been me..."

"Do tell." Another vortigaunt said.

"Yeah what was all of that?" A man asked.

"Well," Chase began, "Alyx, Gordon, and her-" He pointed to Chell, "-managed to find their way in and she found me and got me out."

"Go on" Said a vortigaunt.

"We managed to find Judith" he held back a curse, "and then we broke into the teleport chamber." He paused for a moment. "Then Judith took Eli somewhere we aren't aware of and we had to defend the teleporter long enough for Alyx and Gordon to get back to my dad's lab..." Chase couldn't help but dwell on that thought for a moment: the one that the next time his dad saw him he could have been a combine soldier looking to kill him. His short trance was interrupted when Chell put her hand on his shoulder. She must have known something was up by the look on his face but he just smiled a little and looked back at crowd.

"You need some rest." she told him. He wasn't really sure of her intentions but he wanted to get moving. He knew Alyx and Gordon would be worried about them.

"Nah," He said, "We've gotta keep moving."

"Chase..." Chell said, more agressively this time.

"Fine." Chase said, he didn't really feel like getting into an argument in front of all of those people. "One thing though..." he happened to notice his face throbbing a little bit from the antlions trying to maul him earlier, "This helmet has a two way radio in it." He said, "Can anyone here convert it to a one way radio please?"

"Yeah no problem." One man said taking the helmet from Chase.

"Come on," Chell said from behind him, "Let's get you off your feet for a little while. We can head out in the morning." Chase followed her over to a small fire and he was a little hesitant to sit down because he didn't really like showing any sort of weakness, that had been beaten out of him a long time ago... Eventually he did sit down and Chell scooted over and leaned against him. He finally, decided to call her on it...


	26. Backtracking

**Chapter** **25: Backtracking...**

Chell sat there, leaning against Chase for support, not only because she was exhausted,but also hoping she could finally get a message through to him. If this didn't work, she figured nothing would.

Chase looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. He shook his head and put an arm around her, she felt her heart jump but she acted like nothing had happened.

"Well I was gonna ask you something..." He said, "But this is a good enough answer."

Chell knew what he was referring to, she just nodded.

A few moments passed before Chase said, "I hate to ruin this moment but I'm gonna have to lay down eventually..."

"Go ahead." She said moving so he could do what he wanted to.

Chase sighed as he laid down on his back. "That feels so much better..."

Chell waited for him to get comfortable and then laid her head on his Chest. She was dead tired and it wasn't long before she dozed off.

The next morning she was awoken by Chase. "Come on," he said, "we might be able to fly under the radar for a little while." Chell sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What time is it?" She asked. It was still dark but she could just see the sun's rays peeking over the horizon.

"It's a half hour before sunrise." Chase told her, "If we get out of here and get moving we'll be harder to pin down." He added. "Grab your stuff and let's get going."

Chell sat up and stretched. She looked over at Chase as he cut a few wires in his helmet. "I thought you wanted that radio?" She asked as she picked up her portal gun and her shogun.

"Right now I'd rather them not be able to track me." He explained, "I forgot about them being able to do that."

"Oh..." Chell said. "Which way are we headed?"

"City 17 is about 30 miles that way," he said pointing over the hill, "but we're probably gonna backtrack the way Gordon would have came and hit all of the bases along the coast."

"30 miles?! How are we gonna make that?!" Chell asked, only slightly freaking out.

"It's probably closer to 50." Chase said calmly. "We aren't going straight because there are bad things out in the mountains..."

Chell wondered what he was talking about but just looked at him blankly."Let's go." He said and led her out of the camp and onto a road. They walked along the road for a good while before Chase stopped behind a small outcrop on the rock face and looked down over a small cluster of buildings.

"What is it?" Chell asked.

"Combine..." Chase whispered, "man what I wouldn't do for a rifle right now."

"Well we've gotta get through there somehow..." She said.

Before Chase could respond Chell heard a loud, pulsing exhaust like sound. She frantically searched for the source of it.

"Shit..." Chase said, Chell looked to find him looking around the sky. It was just beginning to get that first tinge of daylight, the peaceful serenity of the sky was nothing like the panic she was feeling inside. She figured that if something had Chase worried then it must be bad.

"What is it?" She asked.

"A Dropship..." He answered, "I don't know how the hell they found us. I disabled all the tracking systems."

"Is it something on me?" Chell asked hoping he'd say no.

"I don't know but we'd better be on our toes," he said, "it just landed."

Chell pulled out her shotfun and looked over Chase's shoulder.

"Wait... What?" Chase asked as though Chell knew what was going on, the thing was 300 yards away, how was she supposed to see anything.

"What is it?" She asked.

"They're loading the ship." He said.

"How the hell can you see what they're doing?" Chell asked.

"I'll explain later..." He said after a nervous pause. "For now just keep an eye on that dropship.

They stood there and watched as the ship was allegedly being loaded with troops and then it took off into the air. Chase watched it and seemed confused by where it was headed.

"What is it?" Chell asked.

"That ship is headed to City 17..." He paused for a moment, "Why the hell would they need the Overwatch in the city?" He paused again, his eyes widened. "We've gotta go... Now!"

"Wait, why?!" Chell asked frantically but Chase had already headed off. She really wished he would explain things sometimes so she could help him.

Regardless she caught up to him and they spent the whole day, and the two after, following along the coast back to City 17.

"It's just over that hill." Chase told her. "Let's see how bad it got..." He said nervously as he climbed to the top of the hill. Chell followed him and was stunned by what she saw.

"Good god..." Chase said, also stunned. They both stood there looking out over the city. It had been partially demolished and there was still mortar and artillery fire everywhere. "Well," he added, "We made it just in time for the party..."


	27. Out of the Frying Pan

**AN: I really would like to formally apologize for not posting anything for over a month. I've had a lot going on but not enough to actually keep me from working on this. Hopefully I'll be less lazy moving forward. Sorry for those of you whom I've irritated by making you wait forever.**

 **Chapter 27: Out of the Frying Pan...**

Alyx looked around as they teleported in. "My god," she said, only a little relieved, "we made it..."

"Yeah," Gordon replied, "that's better than last time..."

"Yeah..." Alyx chose her words carefully, "at least you made it out alive." Gordon shrugged and she realized that Dr. Kleiner was nowhere to be seen.

Just then the door opened slightly and a shotgun poked through. Alyx backed up and Gordon ran to her side with his own shotgun.

"Alyx?! Gordon?!" Alyx was relieved to see that it was Dr. Kliener pointing a gun at them and not a Combine Soldier. Kleiner continued, "How did you two get here? And when?"

"What are you talking about? We just took the teleporter we got here about twenty seconds ago."

"Yeah..." Gordon agreed.

"My dear," Kleiner told her, "I had given up hope of ever seeing you two again..."

"I was more worried about Chase..." Alyx said under her breath.

"Who?" Dr. Kleiner asked her.

"Dammit..." she thought to herself. She knew Chase didn't want his dad to know he was alive.

"Hey," Gordon chimed in, "Whatever happened to Dog?"

"Ah yes!" Dr. Kleiner replied, "Your mechanical friend arrived several days ago. I'll go let him in." He then headed towards a steel door and Gordon followed him.

Alyx walked up behind Gordon and whispered in his ear, or at least as close as she could get, "Thanks for baling me out back there." He just nodded. Just then the door opened up to reveal Dog. "Dog! You made it!" She said as he ran up to her and lifted her off the floor and held her there. "Ok boy, you can let me down now." She said after a few seconds. Dog set her down and just then she heard Barney's voice through the communications system.

"Doc, come in." He said, "Hey Doc are you there?"

"Yes indeed Barney," Dr. Kleiner replied, "And I'm no longer alone. Alyx and Gordon have just arrived."

Alyx waved to the camera as did Gordon.

"Man that's good news." Barney said, "I'd practically given you two up for lost." He paused for a second, "Oh yeah, Alyx..."

"What?"

"The vortigaunts managed to track Mossman and your dad. They've got him trapped in the Citadel." He explained.

Alyx gasped, she had forgotten about the situation with her father with trying to process everything that had been happening.

"They said they figured out that he was in there a week ago and between that and you guys destroying most of Nova Prospekt everyone got all stirred up." He added. "We've been trying to fight our way to the Citadel and we're getting pretty close."

Just then Alyx felt Gordon's hand on her shoulder, "Let's go..." He said.

"He really isn't one to waste words..." she thought to herself. "You and Dog can head his way. I'd like to get Dr. Kleiner somewhere safer, then I'll meet up with you."

"Watch it Calhoun!" Alyx heard Chase's voice in the background.

Barney looked up and apparently saw something in the sky because he froze for a moment before yelling at the top of his lungs "Incoming!" as he darted away from the camera just before something hit it and the screen went black.

Alyx and Gordon looked at each other. She could tell he also was hoping Dr. Kleiner didn't hear Chase.

"Was that..." Dr. Kleiner began, "No no. It couldn't be."

"Alright Gordon," Alyx said, "You and Dog had better get going, it looks like Barney needs you out there." Gordon nodded and Alyx opened to door to let him out. Before he left she stopped him, "Be careful out there..." She said trying not to sound worried and failing miserably. She was relieved when he smiled a little and nodded before walking off. The door shut behind and she thought to herself, "I've gotta get Dr. Kleiner settled and then get out there."


	28. The Overwatch Nexus

**Chapter 28: The Overwatch Nexus...**

Chase shielded his face from the flying debris from the cannon blast. When he looked back up the computer Barney had been using was replaced with a crater. Chell was running over to help him up and a group of soldiers were about to launch an ambush. He reflexively pulled out his rifle and braced behind cover for an incoming attack.

"Watch yourselves!" He told Chell and Barney as the soldiers came around the corner one at a time, only for Chase to mow them down. He stepped back out and grabbed Barney's pulse rifle and handed it to him.

"Are you alright?" Chell asked him.

"I'm alright," Barney answered. He turned to Chase, "Hey do you where the Overwatch Nexus is?"

"About a mile that way." Chase said pointing over the surrounding buildings.

"Yeah, and your dad's lab is a mile and a half that way." Barney said pointing in a slightly different direction. "Gordon should be headed our way from there."

Chase closed his eyes and pictured the city's layout in his head. "Yes," He said with his eyes still closed, "There's a wall that should funnel him over towards the Nexus." He opened his eyes, "Let's head that way and wait for him."

"Good idea." Barney said.

One look at Chell reveled that she was totally lost in that conversation. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"If I just say 'stick with me and you'll be alright,' Could you do that?" Chase said. Chell nodded. "Alright let's go."

Chase led them over to a wall and as they moved along they managed to build up there numbers and wedge the Combine forces away from it. After about a half-mile of travelling they met up with another group of rebels who were being led by Gordon.

"Hey Gordon!" Barney yelled. "Over here!" Gordon looked around and came running over to them.

"Good to see you guys." He said. "Anyway, what's going on?"

"We were planning to make a push on the Overwatch Nexus. It's right around the corner." Chase explained. "By the way," he added after a moment, "What happened to Alyx? Did something happen when the teleporter exploded?"

"No they both made it, I was talking to her earlier." Barney said, "She was going to take your dad to somewhere safer."

"Yeah," Gordon answered, "But she met up with me about a hour ago and well, some soldiers got ahold of her..."

Chase was shocked for a moment but his head went right back to his shoulders. "She's in the Citadel..." He thought out loud.

"What?!" Gordon said, a little panicked.

"I'll bet she's in the Citadel." Chase said again.

"We've gotta get her out of there..." Gordon said.

"Yeah..." Chase said in agreement. "The citadel wall is on other side of the Overwatch Nexus. If we survive the push we'll be able to get her out... I hope."

"Well let's get going!" Barney chimed in. They returned to the groups they had been leading and led them up to a room where they could see the Nexus building and formulate a plan. Once able to see what they were getting into Chell, Gordon, and Barney looked to Chase.

"What?" Chase said.

"You're the ex-marine here," Barney said, "What's your battle plan?"

"I was a corporal not a colonel or general." Chase said. He was used to following orders, not giving them.

"That's one step up from the bottom." Barney replied.

"Come on, you can do it!" Chell said, trying to be encouraging.

Chase didn't have a reply. Instead he began looking over the group that was with them. They probably had a good platoon or two. He looked back to the other three, "How about you guys take most of them and go inside to wreak whatever havoc you may and I'll keep a squad outside so that you guys don't get flanked."

"Sounds good." Barney said, "Gordon and I will head inside and disable the generators and open the gates. Hopefully we'll be able to connect the sky-bridge and let reinforcements in from every direction."

"I'll stay outside with you." Chell said walking over to him.

"Alright," Chase said, "I'll fill them in on the plan and tell them about what they're getting into."

"Go right ahead." Barney said.

Chase walked back over to the group they had accumulated. Chell followed him. "Alright everyone," He said, his voice drawing everyone's attention, "I'm hardly a man of words so if I sound like an idiot you know why." Some people laughed at his sarcasm. "Anyway, we've been planning to make a push on that building." he began while pointing out the widow at the nexus. "We were planning to split you into two groups. One larger group will go into the building with Gordon and Barney so they can let reinforcements in from every direction. When you're all ready, we're gonna head out there and see what kind of hell we can wreak."

Just then he heard some kind of cannon shot from outside, followed by an explosion and he looked outside to see a fireball from a car. He looked at Chell to find that she was clearly scared by what she just saw.

"And apparently there's a suppression cannon on the roof..." Chase said, returning his attention to the group of rebels. Some people laughed. He smiled and decided to tell them what they were getting into. "Now, you'll see exactly where the blast is gonna land before it does. So if you see a white line coming down from the sky, get the hell out of the way." He told them. "They're probably gonna focus on us four," He added while indicating himself, Gordon, Chell, and Barney, "but you all should still be aware of that." He paused for a moment and looked over the group, they all seemed to understand what the goal was. "Alright everyone," He said, "Let's go raise some hell!" Everyone Cheered and rushed outside following Gordon and Barney, Chell stayed behind with Chase to wait for everyone to pass.

"Well you brought their spirits up..." Chell said awkwardly, trying to break the silence between them.

"Yeah," Chase replied, "I guess I can give pep-talks."

"I'm sure you could do a whole speech if you needed to." Chell said smiling at him.

Chase looked at her and smiled back. Just then the end of the mob passed them and Chase pulled out his rifle and Chell pulled out her shotgun and they followed the group into battle.


	29. Little Robotic Bastards AKA Turrets

**Chapter 29: Little Robotic Bastards. A.K.A. Turrets**

Gordon was running through the streets dodging suppression cannon shots and taking out soldiers as he found them. After a good half hour of fighting he found himself at the side entrance to the building.

"Well here we are..." Barney said. "Those of you coming with Gordon and I come with. Those of you staying out here to defend I'm sure Chase has a plan for you." With that Gordon pulled out his shotgun and stormed the building.

The first thing they came to was a hallway with two lasers at the end. Gordon thought they were trip mines and was about to shoot them when barney stopped him.

"Those are turrets." he explained, "Trip the lasers then get out of the firing line and roll a grenade in underneath the little bastards. That should take care of them."

"Ok." Gordon said, "Get everyone to stay back while I do this."

"Right." Barney said, "Alright everyone, stay back. Let the man with the H.E.V. suit deal with those."

Gordon pulled out a hand grenade and stuck his hand into the laser. When the turret came out of the floor it immediately started shooting him. He ran to the side and rolled a grenade into the pit the turret was in. He backed away before the grenade detonated, destroying the turret. "All right everyone," he called back, "The coast is clear."

Barney and the rest of the group came back into the hallway and Barney used the security console to open the doors to a larger open room with three generators surrounding it on the nest story up. All of the stairways leading to the generators were blocked by forcefields. Further examination revealed one door in the corner that was open but had lasers for turrets cutting across it.

"Hey Barney," Gordon said. Just then a dropship flew over the roof of the building.

"Oh shit..." Barney mumbled, "dropships." He added, audibly. "They're gonna be coming from over there." He told everyone as he pointed to a long hallway with an EXIT sign.

"Well if you guys can stay here and handle that, I'll go on ahead and take care of those turrets." Gordon said.

"Sounds good."

Gordon then slipped out of the crowd and over to the doorway. He pulled out a grenade and sprinted through the doorway. A turret popped up right in front of him and he threw a grenade under it. Then he got hit in his right arm and then looked to his right to find another turret. He ran behind some cover and took another grenade, peeked out from his cover, and threw it underneath the other turret. At some point between him throwing the grenade and it detonating, he began to hear gunfire coming from where he had just come from. He trusted that they could handle it and looked around the corner to find two soldiers standing there waiting for him. He hid behind the corner and took out his shotgun and waited for them to come to him. As they did He shot them both. Then he headed back out to the main room to help with the firefight.

"Alright everyone!" Barney yelled as he came back into the room, "clear this room and follow Gordon."

The next hour or so consisted mostly of fighting trough the hallways of the building and taking out the three generators that powered the suppression cannon on the roof. Barney then told everyone to head to the roof with Gordon. "Head on up and connect the sky bridge. We need to let reinforcements in from every direction we can." He ordered, "I'll stay here and keep these gates open long enough to make a difference."

"Alright." Gordon said. "Alright everyone," he called, "Let's go!"

With that he led a charge up the stairs to the roof of the building. Once he got there he looked over to the gate and panicked when he saw what was headed for it...

"I hope you're ready down there Chase..." he thought to himself, "because all hell is about to break loose..."


	30. Meet the Striders

**AN: I had someone ask me to write more about Chase and Chell. I thank them for their feedback and hopefully what I have planned will satisfy their wishes.**

 **Chapter 30: Meet the striders.**

"Hey," Chase heard someone yell from behind him. He looked up to where the sound had come from, "the gates are open!"

Chase immediately looked to the gate to find it opening as he watched. Everyone cheered, including him. The morale boost was short lived however, as right behind the gate Chase quickly saw a dozen striders accompanied by 50 or so soldiers. Without thinking he pulled out his warp cannon and fired a charged shot into the middle of the group of soldiers, taking out a decent chunk of the group. Acting on impulse he yelled for everyone to meet with him around a corner.

"Alright, what's the plan corporal?" Someone asked.

"Everyone split up. Groups are easy for striders to take out with a warp cannon shot." He began, "Focus on the soldiers until you get to the other end of the plaza, there should be a crate of rockets back there for anyone who knows how to use an RPG. Once the dust settles meet up at the gate on the far side of the plaza. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with Freeman and keep pushing to the Citadel. Everyone got that?"

"Yes sir." said the same man who asked for a plan. The group promptly dispersed and Chell stayed behind with Chase.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Waiting for you." She answered.

Chase looked at her for a moment before responding, "How about you just stay here? I mean if you find yourself in danger get the hell out of here but otherwise just stay here."

"But why?" Chell complained.

"Because I want you around later." Chase said before turning around and running headlong into storm of cannon shots and flying bullets. Just as he looked away he noticed a slight red tinge and a nervous look on her face.

A split second later Chase looked up at a strider firing into a group of people who seemed to be coming from the Nexus building. He reflexively took aim, charged up a shot and took out the strider.

"Heads up!" he heard from behind him and her turned around to watch two people get vaporized by a warp cannon. He shook it off and kept on fighting. Just then another strider began shooting him and he dove into the crater that had just been created. He rubbed the mark on his shoulder from the round that had hit him and he sat there waiting for his cannon to cool off so he could fire again. He looked over his shoulder to see where it was, sure enough, it was coming straight for him. He hid back inside the crater and looked up just in time to watch several rockets streak across the sky followed by the sound of a strider dying.

"Hey Chase!" he heard Gordon's voice just as he jumped down in next to him. "You alright down here?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Chase responded, "Just one round to the shoulder."

"Nice." Gordon replied. "What's the end game here?"

"Well" Chase began, "While we're sitting here talking casually in the middle of a war zone, they're put there trying to mop up the last few soldiers and take out those striders. Once that's done we're gonna meet up over by that gate you guys opened from the Nexus."

"Alright," Gordon said, "We connected the sky bridge too while we were in there so now we should have reinforcements coming on from everywhere. Hopefully that'll be enough to push the Combine out of here."

"Good deal." Chase answered, "Now let's get out of here. There's a rocket crate over there, if we can get there you can help me take out these last few striders."

Gordon nodded and took off for the rocket crate. Chase followed him and took out another strider on the way. As the strider fell to the ground Chase just happened to catch a glimpse of the man who had offered him the job he couldn't really have refused. He was talking to Chell. "So she knows about him too?" He thought to himself.


	31. Through the Underground

**AN: So uhh this ending got way more intense than I had planned but I'm actually really happy with how this turned out. Hopefully I can keep writing this frequently so I can get to what would be the end of HL2. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 31: Through the underground.**

Chell turned to face the voice of the man who had given her the job she was now doing.

"I see you've been making out pretty well for yourself." The man said.

"Most of that is due to him." She said motioning to Chase.

"Yes." He replied. "But, I am here to warn you about something."

Chell looked back from gazing at Chase and Gordon with a curious look on her face.

"All I am allowed to disclose is that there is one order he will give you will end with his own death if you obey it." The man told her.

Chell felt a chill run down her spine. "What order is it?" She asked frantically.

"I'm not allowed to say." The man told her, "You will know when the time comes and you'll be there to save him if you do it right." With that the man turned and walked off leaving Chell to ponder what had just happened.

Chell stood there as if she were in a trance when a loud whistle snapped her out of it. She looked up to see Chase waving his arms and motioning behind her. She turned around to see a strider charging up a shot right at her. She reflexively jumped out of harms way just in time to avoid the shot. She then used her portal gun to get over to Chase and Gordon. Sh looked up at Chase who had a look on his face she couldn't quite make out. Of course that could be because she had next to no experience with people.

"Thanks." was all she could think to say.

Chase rolled his eyes. "Get going." He said to Gordon who took off towards the gate they had opened. Chell followed him and Chase was right beside her. "What the hell came over you back there?" He asked.

Chell debated over whether or not to explain the man but decided not to for fear of sounding crazy. "I'm not sure..." she said, "I guess the number of people who I've seen die today has finally caught up to me..."

"Well you got lucky this time." Chase warned her, "Had you waited half a second longer you'd be a pile of ash on the ground over there." Before Chell could answer she felt a bullet graze her right arm and heard one hit Chase. He grunted from the pain and turned around a destroyed the strider.

"Nice shot..." She said. Chase just nodded.

"Shit!" Gordon yelled from a staircase that went underground. They both looked to find him backing out of the staircase and firing SMG grenades down into the tunnel.

"We're coming!" Chase yelled pulling out his rifle. Chell followed him and pulled out her shotgun.

When they got to Gordon they helped him in mowing down the dozens of soldiers that had been hiding. By the end of the fight Gordon was lying on the ground. Further inspection revealed that he was bleeding from his leg. Chase looked at the damage and promptly yelled back to where they had come from.

"Medic!" He yelled. Che sat there looking at Gordon's leg. It looked like it had about two dozen holes in the front of it.

"A shotgun." She thought to herself. Just then a medic arrived and did what he could to stop the bleeding and Gordon's suit said something about morphine.

Gordon thanked the man for helping him and then Chase led them underground into what seemed to be an endless expanse of darkness.

"So uhh..." Gordon said. "Anyone else see a problem here?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Chase responded, "I can't see a thing." Gordon sighed and Chell managed to hide her laughter. "In all seriousness," He said turning around to face them, "Stick to me like glue, I know how to get to the Citadel from here but God only knows what between her and there."

Gordon nodded and turned on his suit's flashlight. Chell froze for a moment but followed Chase when he turned and began walking through the maze of tunnels.

After a while Gordon was looking around at all of the technology that was now lining the walls. "Where the heck are we?" He asked. Chell had been wondering the same thing.

"When the Combine drove the rebels out they but have taken over what used to be the underground railroad and are now using it as a way to move supplies and troops around inside the city." Chase explained.

"Well this is getting a little unnerving," Gordon responded, "How much farther?"

"Right over there." Chase said. "Let's go." Gordon ran off ahead of Chase and so did Chell but she paused a moment to turn back and wait for Chase. When he caught up to her she looked up at him in admiration and he looked down to her and smiled. Just then there was an explosion. It sounded close but Chell couldn't tell where it had come from. "Get out of here!" Chase said sounding panicked.

Chell turned and ran for a moment before she realized he wasn't following her. "Aren't you coming?" She asked frantically.

"Run now, ask questions later." He said. Chell nervously began running for the end of the tunnel. As she got to the end she looked down into a seemingly bottomless pit. She jumped to the nearest ground she could see and looked up to find Gordon standing there.

"Where's Chase?" he asked.

Before she could answer she heard a loud scream from inside the tunnel and they both looked up to find a white ball come bouncing out of the end and exploding in midair.

"What the hell was that?!" Chell asked.

"A charged shot from an AR-2." Gorodn replied. "We need to split up. Those disintegrate whoever they hit."

Chell panicked as she realized that Chase had just died and then she heard approaching fodotsteps and watched Gordon jump to a platform on the Citadel and she portaled herself up to the ledge surrounding the pit. She watched as a group of soldiers in all white looked around and gave up looking for her before going back into the tunnel. She sat there for a couple minutes to regain her bearings. She knew Chase wanted her to go into the Citadel with Gorodn but Chase was dead now so what was he going to do if she just sat there to settle down? She sat with her back against a chunk of concrete and looked up at the towering structure in front of her. It was an impresssive piece of architecture but all she could think about was Chase...


	32. The Citadel

**Chapter 32: The Citadel**

Gordon ran across the various platforms and support structures at the base of the citadel. There were all kinds of things moving, although he had no idea what the heck they were. He still didn't want to mess with them, they probably would kill him if he did. Eventually he found himself in a series of corridors that led to a rail system with pods like the one Eli was in back in Nova Prospekt. Just then he realized that Eli was in the Citadel too.

"Holy crap..." He thought to himself, "I forgot why we were even headed here. I'd better keep an eye out." A couple seconds later it dawned on him that Alyx was most likely in here too. He eventually realized he wasn't getting anywhere daydreaming and decided to keep moving. Not seeing any other options he climbed into one of the pods and let it carry him wherever it was going to go. He figured he'd either be somewhere more dangerous but at least inside the main part of the citadel or it would take him somewhere and just kill him...

As the pod took him along the labyrinth of a rail system. He looked around at the sheer height of the walls surrounding him. It was enough to make him realize just how big the structure was on the inside. The things happening around the rail included building or mantainence of the military units that he had to fight to get here. There were also trains seemingly everywhere that were carrying soldiers and other fround units out into the city.

Eventually the pod carried him into a chamber and dropped him from around fifty feet. "Shit!" He said just as some kind of force field caught him and slowed his fall. "Okay that was weird..." He thought to himself. Then he tried to walk but realized he couldn't move. He heard a voice say something about a confiscation field being engaged or something. He wondered what it meant but found out when all of his weapons were strewn across the floor and vaporized.

"Hey," he yelled, "I needed those!" Just as he finished saying that he looked down and saw the device trying to destroy the gravity gun. The intercom said something about the field not working and then the field dropped the gravity gun and allowed him to freely move. He walked over to the gravity gun and studied it. It now had a blue color to it and the gauges on the side were showing readings that were all over the place. He cautiously walked over to the device and picked it up. It felt really unstable, like a hungry dog pulling erratically at its handler's leash, just waiting to break free and wreak havoc.

Just then the sound of a group of soldiers running caught his attention and he looked to one of the entrances to the chamber he was in. Just as he looked up an Elite soldier came in out of nowhere and Gordon reflexively tried to punt him with the gravity gun, not that he expected it to work. However, work it did and the punt made the soldier fly backwards and kill all of the soldiers he hit on the way back.

He stood there stunned at what had just happened. "What kind of crazy powers does this thing posses?" He thought out loud. Just then another random soldier came running at him. Gordon tried using the other function of the gravity gun and was surprised to find that it actually killed the soldier and picked it up and he could then throw it into another group of soldiers and the impact was lethal. "Good god..." He said quietly, "Well... off to try and find Alyx..."

After a few more minutes of running around and killing soldiers, he found himself at another pod station. Not seeing any other options he climbed in. "What the hell?" he thought to himself, "it's worked once." With that the pod closed and took him on another ride through the Citadel. Except this time it ended with the pod rapidly ascending the citadel. When he got to the top one of the white soldiers pulled the gravity gun away from him and began to examine it.

"God dammit" He thought to himself. Just then a door opened and Judith walked through.

"I'll take him from here." She said and the soldier walked out of the room. She looked back to Gordon, "I'm sorry..." She whispered...


	33. A Shocking Revelation

**AN: Alright, something good. I've been looking forward to writing this chapter basically since I've began writing this story. Hopefully it got you all wondering about stuff.**

 **Chapter 33: A Shocking Revelation...**

Alyx gradually came to. She felt like she was being lifted. She then realized that she was in a pod and her eyes snapped open and she saw that she was in Breen's office. She frantically looked around for her dad. She felt a huge relief come over her when she saw him but that feeling quickly vanished when she looked to her left and saw that Gordon had been captured too.

"No..." She said quietly, blaming herself for getting him involved.

"God damn you Breen let her go!" Her dad yelled to Breen.

Just then she heard the hiss of an airlock about to open behind her. The apparatus from the celing swung all of the pods around so they could see the opening door. As the door opened she saw a Dropship in some kind of landing dock.

"Well well well..." Breen said. "Looks like my delivery arrived. Now I'm missing just one of you that's been out there causing trouble."

"What the hell are you talking about." Alyx snapped at him.

"See for yourselves." He said and directed her attention to the Dropship. The cargo pod opened up and revealed a bunch of elite soldiers manhandling Chase out of the pod and into the room. He immediately fell on his face in the middle of the floor. Revealing a burn mark on his back. Something had charred his suit as well as the skin on his back.

"Good god..." She heard Gordon whisper next to her. Alyx looked up and happened to see Judith with her hand over her mouth seemingly in shock. She looked back to Chase lying on the floor, one of the soldiers walked over to him and kicked him in the head. She heard the bones in his neck pop, but he just laid there motionless. Then the soldier stomped on Chase's back right between his shoulder blades and jammed the butt of his rifle down on the back of his head.

Chase finally pulled himself up into a kneeling position and Breen walked over to him and looked down at him. "You didn't honestly think you were gonna beat me did you?" Breen asked him.

Chase stayed there, cringing from the pain of each breath. "You didn't honestly think you were gonna get rid of me did you." He said grinding his teeth. Alyx felt something grab something out of her belt. She looked down to see that it was Judith taking something from her. She looked back to Chase and Breen.

"I'll admit that you're tough to get rid of." Breen told him.

"If you didn't get rid of me with that ship you weren't gonna get rid of me..." Chase said holding back his anger.

"I did that for your own good." Breen scolded.

"Bullshit!" Chase snapped back, "You did that hoping I'd die so you could hold something over their heads. It had nothing to do with me, it was all about you giving yourself the upper hand by using me as your human shield."

"What..." Alyx thought to herself as the pop holding her opened and she fell into Gordon's arms. She stayed there for a split second before looking into his eyes for a couple seconds. (Hey why wouldn't she?) She smiled at him and stood up. Judith handed Gordon the gravity gun, which had a bluish glow to it now.

Before she could process what was happening Gordon had killed the elite soldiers holding Chase down. Another two soldiers had ahold of Gordon and one of them took the gravity gun and gave it to Breen. Breen took the gun and pointed it at them. She froze as she realized that he was about to kill them by throwing them out the window. As he prepared to fire the gun Chase yelled and jumped in front of them, at the same time Gordon tackled her and she looked up and saw Chase's body go flying over her and smashing through the window. She scrambled to the window and looked to see of she had in fact just watched Chase get thrown out a window.

As she looked down time seemed to slow down as she locked eyes with him for the last time. "Chase!" she yelled as she tried in vain to grab him. Gordon grabbed her to stop her from falling. She stayed there as time seemed to return to normal and she watched Chase fall to his inevitable death. "Oh god no..." she said as he disappeared into the fog.


	34. The Save

**AN: So this doesn't have a whole ton to do with this story but have any of you guys actually listened to music from Half Life 2? I was bored and curious so I looked up the soundtrack for the game and lord almighty does it fit the atmosphere of the game to a T. I guess that's by design but I still never realized how great the music is for the game.**

 **Chapter 34: The Save.**

Chell had made her way around to the back of the citadel and she just happened to look up. Just as she did she noticed a dark shape appear out of the clouds, a split second later she recognized that it was Chase. Her brain went into overdrive for a couple seconds and she was quit to find a way to save Chase with some well placed portals.

Chase came flying towards her and before he landed she fired another portal underneath him to try and slow him down. She repeated the process a few times before placing one last portal to fling him over to where she was standing.

Chase landed right beside her and skidded into a pile of concrete chunks. Chell began to walk over to him as he got up onto his hands and knees. As she was about to ask him if he was ok he held out one finger indicating that he wanted her to wait a moment. She paused for a moment before Chase began vomiting on the ground and did so violently for about 30 seconds before calming down and moving somewhere else to sit on a pile of rocks.

Chell walked over and knelt beside him. "Are you ok?" she asked nervously, "That was quite an episode back there."

"I'm fine." He answered, rubbing his temples. "Those portals just really screw with me and now I've got a splitting headache."

"I'm sorry..." Chell said.

"Don't apologize," Chase said, "I owe you one for that ordeal, I wouldn't be here of you hadn't put on that show."

Chell thought for a moment about what to say, "I just tried to save someone I care about..." she said after she made her decision. Chase didn't say anything he looked at her smiled, or at least the best someone could who had just been through what he just had.

After a few minutes Chase stood up and stretched his lower back out. It was then that Chell noticed a big dark spot on his lower back. Closer inspection revealed that it was charring from something that had happened. The fabric was charred as well as the skin underneath.

"Oh my god..." Chell quickly got up and she felt the charred region causing Chase to yelp and flinch. She reeled back, "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine," he said, "that just hurts like hell."

"What even happened to you?" Chell asked curiously.

"An elite soldier hit me with an energy ball, I honestly probably shouldn't still be here," Chase explained, "those usually disintegrate whatever they hit."

Chell was speechless for a moment, she was simultaneously glad he was alive, upset that he seemed to be in a lot of pain, and scared that he might not escape the next time the Combine capture him. "You've got to be more careful Chase." She told him.

Chase turned to look at her with a confused look on his face. He didn't say anything for a moment, he just looked at her before turning back around. "Why?" he asked.

"Well..." Chell panicked for a second, he managed to catch her off guard and now she didn't know what to say without giving herself away. She decided to keep her mouth shut as she felt her heart skip a beat.

Chase chuckled, "Ok, I get it." He said shaking his head a little bit. She thought she caught a smile for a split second.

Just then there was thunder and they both looked up to see something very strange happening in the sky, it looked like some kind of portal was opening in the sky.

"Good god..." Chase said in horror.

"What the hell is that?" Chell asked grabbing his arm.

"That's... the Combine Overworld..."


	35. At the Moment of Synapse

**AN: So when I realized when writing this that the trance-like states that Gordon experiences between the games would actually have no separation from his perspective. That's really odd for us player to realize but this chapter ended up showing how that would feel from the characters' perspectives.**

 **Chapter 35: At the Moment of Synapse...**

Alyx looked on in horror as the portal to the Combine Overworld began to open right before her eyes. She couldn't help but stare for a few seconds until something orange darted across her field of view, then she went back to watching Gordon. He was frantically trying whatever he could to destroy the reactor core before Breen could teleport away. Right when he had figured out what he needed to hit to destroy it, two gunship appeared and began relentlessly shooting him. He managed to destroy both of them with energy balls and went on to shoot one last ball into the opening portal, which finally destabilized it. She watched as the portal pulsed a couple times before collapsing in a bright flash that forced her to shield her eyes, Good thing because the energy from the collapse was enough to blow the window she had been watching through to bits. Once that was over she ran out to Gordon and helped him up.

"Gordon!" She said with excitement, "You did it!" She added as he got up and they locked eyes for a second. "We've gotta get out of here," she realized after she came to her senses, "Maybe we still have..."

Just then there was a huge explosion and as she shielded her eyes from it, time itself seemed to slow to a stop.

"Time Dr. Freeman."

She heard a voice she didn't recognize, but when she tried to look to see who it was she found that she couldn't move, or even open her eyes.

"Is it really that time again?"

"Who the hell are you?" she thought to herself. Just then everything went black and she began to hear vortigaunts. Two of them grabbed her by her shoulders and as they did she finally was able to move again and she looked up to see Gordon seemingly frozen in time. His eyes opened but she noticed that he was looking in a different direction. She looked in that direction to find a ring of vortigaunts encircling some man with a briefcase. She gasped as she realized that he was the same man who had appeared in her sequence of nightmares. Gordon seemed to hear her and just as he looked at her everything went black.

Alyx gradually came to as she heard the sound of footsteps around her. She realized that she was buried in a pile of debris, and she was blinded as Dog lifted a boulder off of her and proceeded to dig her out.

Once Dog had managed to dig her out he lifted her up and set her on the ground. She could tell he was happy to see her. "Ok boy," she told him, "let's try and find Gordon."

"Alyx?!" She heard Chase yell from around the corner.

"Chase?!" She yelled back. She couldn't believe he was alive and went running to meet him. As she rounded the corner she saw him and instantly jumped into his arms. "I thought for sure you were gone..." She said almost in tears from how excited she was.

"It's ok Alyx." He said letting her go. "Someone just happened to be right where she needed to be in order to save my ass." He added putting an arm around Chell, who was looking a little bit jealous, not that she blamed her. "Also," Chase cut back in, "there's a communications center around here somewhere. You should get ahold of someone and find a way out of here."

"Ok," she answered, "I'll try to get ahold of my dad. I'm pretty sure Judith got him on a train out to White Forest."

"Alright," he said as he turned to Chell, "let's go."

"Wait," Alyx said before he went to leave. "Where are you two going?"

"I'm making him get his back checked out." Chell explained.

Alyx was about to ask what she was talking about when she remembered the burn mark on his back. "Ok good idea." She said. "I'll get ahold of my dad and try to find Gordon."

"Sounds good." Chase said, "Be careful, and get out of here as fast as you can once you find him."

"I will." Alyx answered, "And that goes for you too..."


	36. The Examination

**Chapter 36: The Examination.**

Chell followed Chase trough the destroyed city streets hoping they could find someone who knew how to help Chase. Judging by his body language the pain seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

"Do you need to take a break from walking?" She asked.

"No," he answered, "I've taken way too many of those."

"Chase," she answered, her frustration becoming a little apparent. "You've taken three..."

"And that's three too many." He interrupted. "Let's keep moving. Who knows how long we've got."

Chell sighed, "Chase..." She said, "Give yourself five minutes, you've got a pretty serious injury. You don't need to aggravate it."

He turned and looked at her, "It doesn't matter how much walking I do, it's still getting worse from the shock wearing off. The more time we spend moving the faster we can get help. Now let's go." He said turning around and walking towards a nearby building.

Chell muttered to herself but still followed him. She wished he wouldn't push himself so much, he had a breaking point just like everyone else.

A few minutes later they were walking into a courtyard for what looked like a tenement building. Then, Chase froze for a second, got down on one knee, and pulled out his ridle into a firing position. Chell reflexively pulled out her shotgun and walked up behind him.

They scanned the surrounding area for the better part of five minutes before Chase stood up and slowly moved into the courtyard, his rifle still at the ready. Chell followed him until they got about halfway across the courtyard, then Chase stopped again. Chell looked at him to see where he was looking when she heard a gunshot and saw blood splatter from Chase's throat. He dropped to ground holding the spot he had been shot.

Chell dropped her gun and knelt down to help him when she heard someone yell from up above her, "Hold it! Get your hands where I can see them!"

Chell panicked and put her hands over her head. She looked around and noticed a group of rebels coming out from the building with guns pointed at her.

"Wait a second," one of them said, "you're not... Who are you?"

"Chell..." She answered still in shock from what had just happened.

"Shit..." The person who asked who she was said. "Hey you!" He said turning to a woman there with him, "Go get the medic, we're gonna get that guy inside."

"On it!" The woman said running back inside.

"Alright," he said turning back to Chell, "Help us get him inside. We might be able to save him yet."

"Ok." Chell said jumping to her feet and grabbing one of Chase's legs and helping carry him inside to a small room with a table and a couple chairs. They laid him out on the table and someone came in behind them carrying his weapons and her shotgun. "Thanks." Chell told the person who had brought the weapons.

"Alright I'm here." someone said barging in. Chell looked to see that it was a medic. After he'd looked around the room he walked over to Chase and began to try and patch the hole in his throat. At that point everyone else left leaving just the medic, Chase and her.

After a few minutes, (which felt like an eternity to Chell) the medic had Chase breathing again. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Well, I think he'll come to in a couple minutes." He said, "I'm gonna leave you two be."

"Hang on." Chell said before he left. "Can you stay for a little bit? There's something else I want you to take a look at when he wakes up."

"I guess so, it gets me out of defending for a little bit." The medic answered, "What's the problem?"

"There's a really bad burn mark on his back." Chell explained. "He said something about getting hit by an energy ball."

The medic looked at her suspiciously, "A combine energy ball?"

"Yes."

"And he lived?"

"He's right there, so... yes." Chell noticed that was starting to sound like Chase.

"I refuse to believe that." The medic said, "He's either lying or something screwed with his memory."

Chell didn't respond, she just got up and laid the back of her hand on the side of Chase's face. It was still warm, she hoped that he would wake back up soon.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?"

Chell thought for a moment about how she was going to respond. "Not exactly," she began as she brushed a strand of hair out of his face, "We've only known each other for almost two weeks." she paused for a moment, thinking about all that they'd done in the short time they'd been around each other, "but with everything we've done to get to this point," she added, "he might as well be." She took a moment to examine him, something she hadn't been able to do for fear of getting caught. "I mean hey, why would I complain if that were the case?" She thought to herself, "he's something else..."


	37. Back to the Surface

**Chapter 37: Back to the Surface.**

Alyx followed Gordon up the stairs and into the streets. She took a deep breath and said, "Ahh... Finally, fresh air." Then she looked around and felt her eyes widen as she took in the destruction around her. "Good god..." she said, "Striders really tore the hell out of everything didn't they?"

"I'll say," Gordon said as he looked around at their surroundings. "Hey look who it is," he added pointing to a screen.

Alyx looked at the screen he was pointing to. Dr. Kleiner had apparently made a recording and was now looping it throughout the City. "Man," she said, "I've never been happier to see him. Even though that's just a recording..."

"Yeah..." Gordon replied. "We'd better keep moving." Alyx nodded and followed him around a street corner and she heard the beeping of a scanner from behind them. She turned around and saw not just one but four scanners following them around.

"Look out Gordon," she yelled and immediately wished she waited a second because just as he turned around the flashes blinded him. She started shooting at them while and once Gordon had recovered he used the gravity gun to destroy them. She had to admit that he was pretty good with that thing, she'd seen what he could do with it while they were stuck underground.

Just then she heard a sound she didn't recognized and turned to where it was coming from and she saw soldiers using ropes to slide down from the rooftops. "Look out they're coming from the roof!" She said and opened fire. Gordon turned around and picked up a cinderblock and killed a soldier with it before using his shotgun to take care of the rest of them. She was starting to enjoy this whole hanging back and watching the show kinda business, it was interesting.

After about an hour or so of fighting all the antlions that were now running through the streets, they met up with a resistance member who escorted them to a nearby house where they had been gathering up rebels to try and make a push on the train station to get out of the city. As they walked through the door she heard Dr. Kleiner's recording playing and she listened as he said, "... I feel obliged to point out that a more fortunate side effect of the reactors destruction is the complete removal of the Combine's reproductive suppression field. Previously, certain protein chains important to the process of embryonic development were selectively prevented from forming. This is no longer the case. For those so inclined, now would be an excellent time for procreation."* She quit listening and looked at Gordon.

"Umm..." She said, "Did Dr. Kleiner just tell everyone to 'get busy?'"

Gordon looked at her and gave a nervous laugh. "That guy makes lots of things awkward." She heard him mutter to himself. She had to agree with him, as much as she liked Dr. Kleiner he made anything the slightest bit taboo incredibly awkward.

"If you two are wanting to talk to Barney he's upstairs," the man who escorted them told them, "He'll fill you in on the battle plan."

Alyx thanked him for his help and followed Gordon up the stairs. Once they got about halfway up a shell came out of nowhere and crashed into the stairs right in front of them. The shockwave knocked them both backwards and once she realized what had just happened she looked up to find that the blast had knocked Gordon on top of her. "As if things weren't awkward enough about 30 seconds ago..." she thought to herself.

Gordon went to get up and for a moment or so she thought about pulling him back down to make the moment less awkward, but she decided to not go for it. After they had gotten up they started looking for another way to get upstairs. After wandering through a few more rooms they found the stairs on the other end of the building and they went up them and made their way back across the building and headed upstairs to meet up with Barney. Gordon knocked on the door and when Barney answered the door and let them in Alyx couldn't believe what she saw when the door opened.


	38. Over the Rooftops

**AN: Sorry I took so long to get this chapter up, I had a major case of writer's block plus a lot of stuff going on. But hey, I'm back and I hope tht you enjoy reading this.**

 **Chapter 38: Over the Rooftops**

Chell looked over from Chase to who was coming through the door, it was Alyx and Gordon. Once Alyx saw Chase she ran towards them and looked to make sure it was him.

"Oh my god..." She said backing away in shock, "It is you!" She said going back in for a hug.

Chell tapped down her frustration with Alyx for the time being.

"How the hell did you survive that fall?" Alyx asked after letting him go.

"Well," Chase said looking at Chell, his face looked almost manipulative but somehow Chell found it calming, "Someone who looks like she's a little jealous of you didn't listen when I told her to get to the Citadel and she just happened to see me falling and managed to save my ass."

Alyx instantly turned to look at Chell, her face looked a little red.

"Hell of a story there kid." Barney said from across the room.

"Wow..." Chell thought to herself, "That weird guy was right... That's actually kinda scary..."

"How have you been anyway?" Alyx asked Barney.

"Considering the state of affairs we're in right now," Barney answered, "I'm doing pretty damn well."

"They found us!" Someone yelled from the window, shooting something outside.

"Aww hell Gordon," Barney said, "We're you followed this time too?"

"We stole some information from the Citadel on our way out." Alyx said before Gordon could answer. "They've been right on our tail the whole way here."

"Well this just got a lot harder." Barney said, "We've gotta get our asses outta here."

Chase stood up and picked up his equipment, "This should be really freaking fun." He said stretching, Chell found it nice to watch for some reason.

"No kidding," Barney commented, "It looks like were gonna have to cut a path through every single chickenshit metro-cop who's regretting their choice to defend City 17."

"What if Gordon and I took a separate route to draw the Combine away from you guys?" Alyx suggested.

"That could work." Barney said thinking for a moment.

"We're coming with you guys." Chase said, "if you're looking to draw the Combine after you you'll need all the help you guys can get."

"Sounds good." Alyx said, "Let's go." She then took off across a bridge and Chase followed her.

"Hey Gordon, wait up a sec." Chell heard Barney say as she passed him following Chase. Once they got to the other side of the bridge Alyx ran ahead and started shooting at something around a corner.

"Are you guys coming?" Alyx called.

"Give us a minute." Chase called back.

Once Gordon had come across the bridge Chase ran beside him as Chell followed them.

"So was Barney harassing you about Alyx back there?" Chase asked.

"Yeah..." Gordon answered, "I don't get why he does that..."

"I'll tell you why," Chase said, "Fucking look at her man."

"I've had chances to do that Chase, I get what you're saying."

"Well shit dude what are you waiting for?"

"For what?"

"Gordon... He's only harassing you because he knows she's into you."

"Says the badass here..."

"You don't give yourself enough credit." Chase said, "You can do way more than you realize."

At that point Gordon didn't answer, he simply looked back to where he was running.

Chell smiled, only because her and Alyx had a similar conversation a good while back about Chase and Gordon. Alyx was in same situation as Gordon, her dad had been harassing her about him.

Once the gang had caught up to Alyx they found themselves inside an abandoned hospital. As they slowly made their way through the hospital Alyx fell back to stick with Chell and they started talking about random things, mainly just to watch Chase and Gordon fight off the zombies and soldiers scattered around the building.

"Y'know..." Alyx said, "You've convinced me about staying back to give the guys a chance to show off a little bit."

Chell laughed, "I know, these two are something to watch now aren't they."

"Yeah, especially yours."

"Yeah..." Chell said, "I hope they can handle us as well as they handle those zombies." She added with a wink. Alyx almost lost it.

By that time the guys were done fighting and they were making their way into the next room. Chell and Alyx followed them only to be spooked by a horde of zombies breaking through a double door. Before they knew what was happening Chase's rifle was lying on the ground 20 feet away from him and Gordon was frantically dodging zombies while trying to reload his shotgun.

Chell kinda panicked and she could see that Alyx was also worried, she took out her pistol and did what she could to bleed out some of the zombies, but the effect she had was negligible. All Chell could do was watch as Chase crawled over to the all and there just happened to be a spud bar lying there and he picked up and used it like a spear and began throwing zombies around like it was nothing.

After the fight was over Chase and Gordon were both scratched up and breathing heavily. Chase picked up and looked over to Chell and Alyx, "Hey!" he yelled sarcastically, "Where the hell were you two that whole time?" he added laughing. At that point Gordon looked up and he was actually mad at them. Chase luckily came to their defense.

"I never thought I'd like Chase's notion that men are better at fighting than women..." Alyx whispered. Chell nodded in agreement.

"Well let's get moving..."


	39. Ambush in the Attic

**Chapter 39: Ambush in the Attic**

Chase walked over and picked up his rifle and warp cannon. He was still panting from throwing zombies around with a spud bar but he did have to admit that it was quite a bit of fun, even if he did almost throw his back out.

"Man..." He thought to himself, "I've had a lot of close calls lately. One of these is bound to be the last..."

He realized where his thoughts were going and snapped back to reality and he began to follow Gordon up a flight of stairs with Alyx between him and Gordon and Chell by his side. As Gordon and Alyx reached the top of the stairs a gunship began firing at them from somewhere Chase couldn't see. He fell back wanting to give Gordon a chance to take down the gunship.

"What are you doing?!" Chell whispered.

"He'll be fine." He answered, "All this combat has turned him into a grunt like me."

"What?"

"I've seen some of the crap he can make it through," He explained, "He's learned to fight. Just watch."

Chase looked out over the attic and watched as Gordon ran around firing rockets at the gunship. Eventually the ship came crashing through the roof of the building and landed on the beams holding up the attic floor.

"Wow!" Alyx sounded really impressed, although she could have been faking it or exaggerating to try to get Gordon to notice. "I mean holy... Gordon you're a real terror!"

Gordon just stood there confused about what just happened so Chase spoke up, "Nice one Freeman!" He called.

The attempt to get Gordon to realize what he was capable of didn't seem to work. Before anything else could happen a loud beeping was coming from the door.

"Aww man not again!" Alyx said backing away from the door and getting her gun out.

Chase wasn't sure what was happening but he pulled out his rifle and aimed at the door assuming that soldiers were coming. Chell jumped down and ran over by the door with her shotgun at the ready to ambush.

About three seconds later the doors blew off and Gordon fired a rocket through the doors and several dead soldiers went flying out into the room. As the last few soldiers came running out they were easily mopped up by Alyx and Chell.

They grouped up again and made their way back downstairs. About halfway there they came across a hole in the floor and Gordon jumped down onto the next level and the floor collapsed and dropped him into a flooded basement.

"Oh my god..." Alyx said frantically looking for him. "Gordon! Are you alright?"

Gordon surfaced, "I'm alive if nothing else..." He called back.

Just then Chase got swatted from behind by a zombie and he heard the sound of an armed grenade. He turned and saw what Alyx had called a "zombine" and for some reason that name stuck. Chase couldn't do anything to get away in time so he shielded his face just as the grenade went off. Once the ringing in his ears stopped he looked around and was surprised that he was actually still alive...

"What the hell just happened...?" Chase thought to himself. "I didn't know they did THAT to me..."

He looked over to Chell and Alyx who were both as surprised as he was that he alive.

"Chase..." Chell said slowly walking towards him.

"I'm ok..." he answered, "Let's get down there to help Gordon."

"Good idea." Alyx said as she walked out the door into the hallway and Chell followed her. Chase stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before he took off after them.

"What the hell has been done to me..." Chase thought running down the hallway, he was starting to get worried about this whole ordeal.

"Gordon!" He heard an excited Alyx from down the hall. He looked up as Chell poked her head around a corner and he caught up to them.

They went into another room with a looped video of Chase's dad playing, but it was quickly cut off by a Combine Adviser.

"Umm..." Chell asked, "What was that..."

"Wait till we get out of the city..." Chase said to her, "You'll probably see some of them after the citadel blows..."


	40. Escape from City 17

**AN: I hope you're all enjoying reading this. I'll admit that I've really loved writing it. I'll also admit that I've been wanting to write these chapters for a long time. It felt like I was ages away from getting to write these up until I began working on these chapters and then I realized "Oh ok... I get to write this scene now..." _*_ _Cue random change of topic*_ This chapter also has a moment that I'm sure a decent number of you have been waiting on for a while now. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 40: Escape from City 17**

Chell followed Chase as well as Alyx and Gordon out into an open area and Barney came running up to them out of a building and talked to them about the plan of action for reaching the escape trains. Chell wasn't fully listening she was still nervous about Chase, she was honestly scared of what he wasn't telling her, or anyone else...

"Alright, let's do this!" Alyx said as Barney finished his explanation. Barney sent out a group of citizens and Alyx and Gordon led them over to the train station while Chase climbed up on a nearby platform to cover Gordon as he made his rounds taking citizens to the trains. Chell followed Chase and helped as much as she could with what she had as far as weapons.

"Chase..." She asked during a lull in the fighting.

"Yeah?"

"Forgive me if this seems pushy but how did you survive a grenade blast at point blank?"

Chase took a deep breath and thought for a moment before he answered. "Chell..." he said, "I'm sure you've figured out that something's up as far as me right?"

"Yeah..." She answered, "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"Well..." He answered, "For now I'll just say that I'm not sure I can be considered human... Just chew on that for a while."

Chell just sat there, she was awestruck. Questions swarmed inside her mind like bees, "What the hell does 'nonhuman' mean in this case? Who did that to him? When did this happen? How long has he had to keep this secret, and why?"

Her trance-like thought ended when Chase climbed down and followed a group of citizens being escorted by Gordon and Barney. She got down and followed them through a room that had soot marks all over the walls and floor from grenade explosions. As they wove their way around destroyed trains and collapsed catwalks to a doorway where Alyx was using a mounted gun to help defend the trainstation.

"Alright everyone let's get out of here!" Barney yelled as he entered the building and was about to board a train. Chell followed Chase out to the train and stood on the platform at the back of the train.

"Are you guys coming?" Chase called back to them.

"You guys go ahead," Alyx called back, "They're not after you."

"Ok." Barney said, "See ya when I see ya!" He added as he climbed onto the train and got it moving.

Chell looked at Chase, they held eye contact briefly and Chase even cracked a smile. Before she could process what had just happened she realized that she was up in the air...

"Uhh..." she thought to herself, "What's going... Holy crap he actually went and did something. I would have settled for even just a hug but now he's got me up in the air..." She looked down at him and smiled, she looked over his shoulder to see Alyx cheering about what was happening.

She decided to embrace it and pulled herself in close and buried her head in his chest. After a moment or two she felt a kiss on her forehead and her heart skip a beat.

A few minutes later the train stopped in a town of old buildings that seemed to have only recently been repopulated by people fleeing City 17. She followed Chase as he got off the train and started wandering around the town. It didn't take long for a lot of the citizens to start asking Chase questions about who he was and telling them how amazed that they were to finally get to meet him. He was polite but he made an effort to get out of the town as soon as he could.

Within about a minute they were outside the town at the base of the hill. Chase looked up the hillside and began climbing, Chell watched briefly before following him. Once they got about halfway up they found themselves on a ledge overlooking the town they had just came through as well as City 17 off in the distance.

Chell stood there for a minute just looking at the scene. The citadel towered over the city, a black line through the sunset sky. Suddenly a white beam appeared out of the top of the building and there seemed to be a hole in the sky.

"What's happening?!" She asked frantically.

"The reactor core must be having a meltdown..." Chase answered not looking away from the scene, "Soon that whole city will be vaporized and the citadel will be a pile of twisted scrap on the ground."

Chell looked back to what was happening. There was a white flash followed by a pulse of energy that propagated out and shook the ground beneath them. Then the base of the citadel was engulfed in a white glow from the raw energy of the meltdown. The last thing she saw before the light was enough to blind her was the top portion of the structure begin to collapse into the hot plasma from the meltdown.


	41. By the Light of a Fire

**AN: This chapter contains a description of sexual activity, if you're not keen to read that I'd advise skipping this chapter. I know I rated this "M" and I could probably go into more detail than I did but just to be safe I'm gonna leave it like this.**

 **Chapter 41: By the Light of a Fire...**

Chase shielded his eyes from the blinding white light from the reactor meltdown, he looked back once the light had faded. The Citadel was reduced to a pile of scrap metal surrounded by rubble from what used to be City 17. He stood there staring in awe at the magnitude of the event he'd just witnessed.

After standing there for a few moments he realized that it was going to be dark soon and began looking around for a place to bed down for the night. He really didn't want to be around people at the moment, he needed a chance to reflect on everything that had been happening to him lately.

After poking around for a little while he stumbled upon a small pool of water with a slight trickle pouring off from the rock above it.

"What are we looking at?" Chell whispered, Chase had forgotten about her.

"Well if you're wanting something to drink there you go." He said, "I'm gonna go try and get some brush or something to build a fire with."

Chell stayed to get a drink while Cahse wen out to find some wood. With all the dead trees around making a fire was simple enough and he stayed to keep it going so that they would have some warmth for the night. After that was done Chell came over and sat down by the fire.

Chase got up and headed over to the pool they found before and just looked at it for a second. Then he got the idea to actually clean himself off with the tiny bit of running water that they had found. He took off all of his gear and for the first time in a while got to look at all of the sutures in his body from where the Combine had cut him open to do whatever the hell they did to him.

After cleaning himself off chase put his base layers back on and soaked his body armor to clean it off slightly. He then gathered up his outer layers and walked back over to the fire and sat down. Chell had apparently seen what he did and she decided to do the same thing. Chase threw a piece of wood on the fire and laid down for a couple minutes to think. By now he could see stars in the sky which served to make him feel like he was alone as he laid there thinking.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later he got a reminder that he wasn't alone out there because he felt something warm climb on top of him. He looked to see who it was and was a little surprised to see Chell lying on top of him.

"Umm... What are..."

"Shh." She told him. "Don't ruin this." She added leaning in for a kiss.

Chase had no idea what she was talking about but decided to just go with it. It was the first chance they'd actually had to relax in a good long while.

After a few moment Chell broke the kiss and sat up on top of him. It was then that he actually got a decent look at her and realized she was nude. She smiled when she saw his reaction to that realization.

"You weren't expecting this now were you?" she said pointing at herself.

"No..." he answered.

"Well do you like it?" she asked grabbing her boobs.

Chase decided to not respond at first and instead he took his left arm and grabbed her left shoulder and took his right arm and grabbed her butt and pulled her to the ground and he got on top of her. "How's that for an answer?"

"Good." she said, she was already breathing heavily. Chase got the hint and went to the next level.

The night went on until all was said and done as far as sex. Chase then got up to put some wood on the fire. He then went and picked up some dry clothes and laid them over Chell. She pulled them close and rolled up on her side facing the fire.

"Damn..." Chase thought to himself, "I must have really turned her world upside down. She seems like she can't even move, I guess they did do something to me that's good for someone..." He laid down beside her. "Are you tired?" he asked. She was already asleep. Chase just smiled in spite of himself and laid down beside her and put an arm around her but he never actually dozed off. In line of everything that had recently happened to him he knew he had some serious thinking to do.


	42. What have we Stolen?

**Chapter 42: What have we Stolen?**

WAlyx rounded a corner from a train car that was smashed in the wreck. As she scored the environment for a sign of Gordon she saw something orange moving about in a half submerged train car.

"Gordon?!" She called running over to the car. A look inside revealed that it was Gordon inside the car. "Gordon!" She said again, relieved that he was alive. "Give me a sec, I'll find a way to get you out of there." She said as she looked around for anything useful.

"I think I see the gravity gun over on that door." Gordon told her. She looked where he was talking about and sure enough it was there. She walked over and picked it up to try and rip the door off the car that Gordon was stuck inside.

"Let's hope this still works..." she said as she tried to rip the door off. The gravity gun worked like a charm and she punted the sort off into the woods. "Wow." She said, "I forgot how hard this thing kicks. You'd better take it, you're better with it that me."

Yordon came up to her and took the gravity gun. "I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to find you..." She said to him.

"I'm glad you found me too." He answered.

Alyx went on to explain the situation and how they should probably find a way to get into contact with White Forest. She then followed Gordon as he made his way through the woods until they found a plateau overlooking City 17. The city was burned to the ground and the citadel had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal. There was something like a vortex but made of lightning sprouting up from the ground and stretching up into the sky.

"Oh my god..." She said in awe, "The Citadel! What the hell is happening?!"

Gordon followed her over to the cliff edge and they stood there looking at the scene.

"Good god..." He said standing there.

Just then the ground shook and there was a white flash. Alyx knew what was coming next, "Portal storm!" She yelled as she grabbed a rock.

The shockwave passed and she stood up just in time to watch the bridge get hit by it and collapse. After that was all over she turned to Gordon.

"Are you ok?" she asked. Gordon nodded. "It's like the start of the war all over again..." she added, thinking back to that horror show.

"Come on." Gordon said gently as he walked over to a mineshaft that they hadn't seen before. Alyx followed him as he made his way through the mine.

After an encounter with some zombies, they found a small shed with a radio transmitter inside of it. Alyx tried to use the transmitter but it wasn't getting any power, after Gordon helped her find a solution to the problem, she tried to use the old frequency from White Forest and she was relived when Dr. Kleiner answered.

"Alyx!" He said, "Is that really you?"

"Yes!" She replied, "And Gordon too! We made it out of the city."

It was then that her father cut in, "Alyx!" He said, "Thank God!"

"We're ok dad. Don't worry." She told him, "But something weird is going on with the Citadel..."

"Yes." Dr. Kleiner said, "We've been monitoring the situation. The energy from the meltdown was focused into a beam of portal energy."

"The Combine," Her dad said, "They're trying to open another gateway."

"Yes," Dr. Kleiner agreed, "It's the infancy of a superportal. If it attains full strength..."

"It'll be the Seven Hour War all over again," he dad said, "Except we won't even last seven minutes this time."

She looked to Gordon, "That explains all the data they were sending from the Citadel."

"Data from the Citadel?!" Dr. Kleiner asked.

"Yeah," She explained, "We downloaded a packet of information from the control room on our way out."

"Magnusson, did you hear that?!" Dr. Kleiner called.

"I'm not deaf!" Magnusson yelled back. "Somewhere in the sequence they must be planning to establish a connection with the other side." He turned to Alyx, "What you have there is the contact code for the Combine Overworld." He waited a moment for everyone's surprise to fade. "We've got to step up the launch schedule, as soon as you two get here with the data we'll get the damn satellite into orbit."

Her dad got back in front of the camera, "Get here as quickly as you can you two. But for god's sake take care of each other, you never know what..."

The signal was cut off, her and Gordon looked at each other, visibly shocked at what had just happened.


	43. From Predator to Prey

**Chapter 43: From Predator to Prey.**

Chell was following Chase around with her shotgun at the ready. They had been wandering through the woods for almost a hour now, the silence of the whole process was starting to get to her. Just then she heard a crash off in the distance and Chase dove behind a rock and pulled out his rifle. Chell went for cover and scanned the area around to check for anything sneaking up on them.

"Hang on..." Chase said under his breath, "Is that Alyx and Gordon?"Chell looked over the rock she was hiding behind. She could see some buildings that were close and beyond them she saw an orange suit. "I see Gordon," She whispered.

"Let's go meet up with them," Chase said, "Watch my six and we'll head that way."

Chell scanned the area around them as Chase pushed forward through the woods.

"Umm..." Chell began after hearing a noise she didn't recognize. "What was that?"

"Just stay close to me and it should leave us alone..." Chase responded, sounding a little nervous.

Chell did as he said, even though him being nervous didn't help her at all. Then again, he hadn't done anything to try to hurt her.

"Gordon there's something snooping around out here..." She heard Alyx's voice from off in the distance. Just then she saw it... She didn't know what it was but she saw it. It was white with dark blue body armor with two light blue eyes. It looked at her and then Chase and then back to her before running over to the buildings.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Chell asked, her voice shaking.

"A hunter." Chase answered, "They're the reason we took that detour after Nova Prospekt."

Chell was about to happen when she heard attack sounds coming from the buildings. Chase took off in sprint for the direction they were coming from. Chell followed him as he rounded the corner of the buildings into a loading dock for trains. Gordon was trapped under a pile of debris and Alyx was trying desperately to crawl away from the hunter as it was attacking.

"Go help her out." Chase ordered, "I'm gonna take care of the thing." He added pulling out his warp cannon.

"Wait where are you going?!" She called after him as he chased the hunter off into the woods.

"Don't worry about it," He called from of in the distance, "Stay with those two, I'll find you later."

Chell stood there frozen as she watched Chase disappear over a hill. An antlion hitting her snapped her out of it and she reflexively shot it. Three more antlions tried to attack her and she shot them all. She then ran over to Alyx and Gordon. Alyx was lying on the ground and bleeding from two holes in her gut, Chell assumed they were the work of the hunter that had just attacked her.

"Chell!" She heard Gordon's voice.

"Hey!" She replied, "You're alive!"

"I'm fine." He answered, "I'm just buried. How's Alyx?"

"I'm not sure," Chell answered, "I'm no doctor but it doesn't look good..."

"I will do my best to help you," a voice said. She looked to find a vortigaunt walking over to Alyx. It knelt down beside her and ran its hand over her body. "Hmm..." it said, "she has many grave injuries. She can be healed but it will require more than I can conjure alone. Let me summon my kin." It went on to exchange a series of calls with another vortigaunt off in the woods.

It then turned around and destroyed the concrete holding Gordon down. "I will stabilize her if you humans will provide us with a level of protection."

Chell and Gordon looked at each other and nodded. They then began making their way through the building complex of buildings until they came upon an elevator that served as an entrance to a mineshaft. Gordon climbed inside the elevator and pulled out a crowbar that was jammed in the gears, which dislodged the elevator allowing it to plummet down the shaft.

"Gordon!" Chell called down to him, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he answered clearly rattled, "I'm alive at least."

"Freeman," The vortigaunt said, "Press on to the best of your ability, I will take the Alyx Vance to my kin with the Chell."

"Ok." Gordon called, "I think I see a way out of here. Good luck up there guys."

"Thanks," Chell answered, "You too." She then worked her way back out into the woods, hoping that there wouldn't be another hunter. After dealing with a few random antlions they arrived at an opening into the earth with a lift sticking up to a building. She walked over to it and the vortigaunt followed her.

"We must descend into this pit." It told her, "There are some humans down there, they will help us protect the Alyx Vance."

Chell called the lift and when it arrived she got into it and then the lift took them down to a platform above a mineshaft.

"What are you doing here?" She heard a voice and looked around to see two men.

"We have brought the Alyx Vance." the vortigaunt explained, "she has been attacked by a hunter. We must preserve her until the Freeman arrives."

"Alright well can you help us keep these antlions out of here?" one of the men asked Chell, "We really could use someone with a shotgun. We've even got a crate of sheels over there."

"Sure," she answered, she had nothing better to do. She almost instantly regretted saying that because she heard an alarm followed by one of the meb yelling that there were antlions coming.

"You idiot," the other man answered, "That's Gordon Freeman..."


	44. Griggs and Sheckley

**Hey guys I just wanted to ask for your thoughts on me potentially doing a sequel to this which will tie up some loose threads with the plot. If you have any input or a plot hole you want filled feel free to let me know.**

 **Chapter 44: Griggs and Sheckley**

Gordon walked over to two men and Chell who were standing in a large open area which opened straight up to the sky.

"Hey doc," one of them called, "Alyx is over here." He added as he headed for a platform and he saw Alyx lying on a table with a vortigaunt keeping her alive.

"Alyx!" he gasped, running down to where she was. "I can't believe I let this happen..." he said under his breath.

"Hey," he felt a hand on his shoulder, "It's not your fault." Chell told him, "You didn't do it."

"Yeah but I could have been a little bit faster." He said.

"Hey," Chell responded, "You'll be the first person she thinks of when she wakes up."

Gordon just looked at her, her couldn't quite tell if that was a hint of some kind or not, Chase was bothering him enough about Alyx, he didn't need it getting worse.

"Not to break up a moment," one of the men said, "But we should probably show you two how the antlion sensors work."

"Let's go." Chell said to him, "We've got a job to do." Gordon then followed her up to where one of the men was standing.

"Alright you two," the man began, "these are the antlion sensors." He said pointing out what resembled a traffic light except all the lights were red. "If there's an antlion about to enter a tunnel the corresponding light will light up. More lights means more antlions. Simple enough eh guys?"

"Hey Freeman," the other man said, "on your way down here... You weren't followed were you?"

"Umm..." Gordon didn't really want to think about crawling through all those tunnels again.

"Don't listen to him doc," the first man told him, "We're a little on edge because this place is riddled with antlions."

"Can I ask a question?" Chell asked. The men just looked at her. "What are your names."

"He's Griggs"

"He's Sheckly"

Gordon and Chell looked at each other for a moment, he could tell that she was also surprised at what had just happened. They looked back to the men and nodded.

"Oh one more thing," the man who had just been called Sheckley said, "We've got a couple turrets left, when a tunnel lights up we just move the turrets in front of it. They do a pretty good job but I wouldn't exactly trust 'em with my life."

"Alright," Gordon said, "Are we up to speed?"

Before Sheckley could answer the tunnel they were standing by lit up and an alarm started going off. "Come on!" He yelled, "Dr. Freeman go get that other turret. We need to defend the vort."

Gordon used the gravity gun to pick up the turret and set it down in front of the tunnel. Then he picked up an SMG and loaded a full magazine. About then the antlions surfaced and began charging at them, however they were no match for three SMGs and two turrets.

Once the antlions had been mown down everyone took a moment to reload. A few seconds later two tunnels lit up. Gordon grabbed the turrets and set them up in front of one of the tunnels and he and Chell went over to help Griggs and Sheckley.

A similar variation of this process was repeated a number of times, gradually increasing the number of antlions each time, until the turrets ended up breaking down. Then a group of vortigaunts entered a tunnel and helped to fight off a horde of antlions and then went down to help with Alyx.

"Healing her will require deep submersion into the vortessence." One of them said.

"We require the use of the larval extract!" Another one said.

"I will journey deep into best to obtain the extract." The first one said, "But I cannot hope to bring it here alone."

"I'll help you out." Gordon said, "I helped get her hurt so I'll step up to help heal her."

"Yes," the other vortigaunt said, "take the Freeman."

"Let us move quickly Freeman." The vortigaunt told him. Gordon followed the vortigaunt off down one of the tunnels.


	45. A Moment for Reflection

**AN: So I kinda wanted a chance to sort of lay out a brief description of what has happened so far. It also helps to show that there are things that you as the audience know that the characters don't know. Yay for dramatic irony!**

 **Chapter 45: A Moment for Reflection.**

Chell watched as Gordon ran off after a vortigaunt down a tunnel. She was tired after all the fighting and went over to a wooden box and sat down on it. A few moments later she noticed that Griggs and Sheckley had followed her over to where she was.

"So you're Chell huh?" Sheckley asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

"I thought you usually stuck pretty close to Corporal Kleiner?" Griggs asked.

"I do," She answered, "he took off after the hunter that attacked Alyx." She was already starting to miss him, of course part of that was probably due to how intimate they had gotten the night before. "Man was that amazing..." she thought to herself.

"So are you willing to tell us a little bit about yourself?" Sheckley asked.

"Umm..." It took her a moment to process what he was asking because she'd never actually been asked about herself before, "I'm fine with answering some questions." She said.

"Alright, thanks." he replied, "It seems like we've got some time to kill anyway and we haven't really got any other people to talk to down here."

"I can imagine you guys got pretty bored." She said.

"Yeah."

"So uhh..." Griggs began, "What happened out there that led to all this?"

Chell couldn't really answer the question at first. That one simple question had made her realize how much had happened in the past week or so. "Where do I start?" she said after a moment of reminiscing.

"Start with when you met Corporal Kleiner." Sheckley told her.

"Well we actually met in the woods outside of City 17." she said. "And that was back before the war broke out."

Griggs and Sheckley were silent, they seemed like they wanted her to tell the story more than anything. It felt weird to her but she didn't have anything better to do until Gordon got back.

"We ended up meeting Gordon at a station for the underground railroad." she continued, "and from there we made our way to Eli's lab."

"You're talking about Black Mesa East right?" Sheckley asked.

"Yeah." she said, "and that was where we met Alyx." She paused for a moment, thinking back to the scrapyard, "I remember when Chase surprised her in the scrapyard," she added, "Man did that make her get emotional fast..."

"Those to knew each other?!" Griggs asked, she could tell he was surprised.

"I know right?" She responded, "I'm pretty sure they go way back but then got separated when Chase joined the Marine Corps."

"Man.." Sheckley said as if he just wanted to fill the gap of the conversation.

"Yeah..." Chell answered, "Anyway after that experience Alyx and I took a train to Nova Prospekt while Chase and Gordon made their way along the coast. Once we got inside we met up with them and ended up destroying the Combine's teleporter to get out of there."

"That's when the Uprising started," Griggs commented, "I remember hearing about that. Boy did it get everyone fired up."

"Yeah, after about a week Chase and I had made our way back along the coastline to City 17." Chell continued, "After fighting our way to the Citadel Gordon made it inside and Chase got captured by a dropship. I ended up staying around the base of the Citadel and It's a good thing I did because about ten minutes later I managed to save Chase from falling to his death."

"Sounds like you two make a pretty good team." Sheckley commented.

"Ehh," she answered, "He does most of the work. I'm just there when stuff gets out of hand."

"Ah so he keeps you safe and you keep him from getting flanked basically." he said.

"Yeah," Chell replied, "That's got us from Nova Propekt to here pretty much. Anyway back to the story, the Citadel's portal reactor got destroyed and then the Combine ended up destroying the Citadel and all of City 17. I'm not sure exactly why but the four of us managed to make it out live and then earlier today Alyx got attacked by and hunter and then Gordon got trapped in an elevator and now we're here and I have no idea where we're going after this..."

The two men just looked at her blankly and then turned to each other. "Y'know," Sheckley began, "If we end up winning this war you dour will have one hell of a story to tell. You'll be quite the legends."

"They already are," Griggs replied, "Haven't you ever heard the vorts talk about them?"

"How often does that happen?" Chell asked, she had kinda picked up that they were getting famous back when they had escaped from Nova Prospekt.

"Pretty often," Griggs answered, "they seem to think that there's some 'other' thing that's directing all of your guys' actions. It all seems a little weird to me."

Chell froze. "Are they talking about that man with the briefcase?" she thought to herself. It was because of his instructions that they were still alive. She suddenly found herself with so many questions that she desperately wanted answers to.


	46. The Extract

**Chapter 46: The Extract.**

Gordon followed the vortigaunt into the lift and pressed the button to return to Alyx. He hoped that the vortigunts would be able to heal her.

"Truly Freeman," the vortigaunt told him, "You have done your job magnificently. You even bear some traits we thought were innate to vortikind."

Gordon stood there thinking about what he'd just been told.

"Antlion husbandry was a practice of our ancestors." The vort told him. "The creatures exude many precious compounds but the larval extract is by far the most esteemed. It serves to divide the false veils that part the vortessence."

"No pulse!" one of the vorts called from above.

"As if I wasn't already nervous..." Gordon thought to himself. By then the lift had arrived back at the level where Alyx was. He watched as the vortigaunts 'imbibed' the extract.

"Join us Freeman." one of them told him, "We need a human in this process."

Gordon stepped out of the lift and looked around at the votigaunts and then down to where Alyx was. One of the vorts made a gesture with his arms over Alyx, then something strange happened. Gordon was suddenly able to see through Alyx's skin, he could see the individual muscles and tissues in her body.

"Doctor Freeman..." he heard a voice he didn't like hearing. He entered the trance-like state that he really didn't want to be in right now. "I do apologize for interrupting the moment with your," the man paused for a split second, "friends, heh-heh. Were occupied with something else."

An image from the transmission from Judith came through into view. "You know Dr. Freeman," the man continued, "there was a time when they had no concern for Miss Vance. At that point their only experience of humanity was a crowbar coming at them down a corridor."

The image from the transmission faded away revealing a projector screen, "When I plucked her from Black Mesa,"

"Wait you saved her?!" Gordon thought to himself, "Eli said that he'd saved her."

The man continued on, "I acted against the objection that she was a mere child and of no practical use to anybody. I however remain confident that she was worth far more than that appraisal."

An image of the interior of a missile silo appeared and the man seemed to be standing in it. "Now the time has come that I must extract from you a portion of the payment owed for your own survival."

Gordon wondered what he saw about to get involved in.

"See her safely to White Forest Doctor." There was a flash and then the man was standing over an unconscious Alyx in the dark. "Ans now," he told her, "when you next see your father, be sure to relay this message..." he leaned close to her ear, "prepare for unforseen consequences."

Everything flashed back to reality.

"She stirs." one of the vortigaunts said.

"Oh god..." Alyx said. She sounded like she was really sore.

"Alyx..." Gordon said.

"Gordon..." she answered, "thank god you're alive." she added looking up at him.

"I'm fine Alyx." he answered, "I'm just glad you're back."

"Me too." she said. "How long was I out?"

"A couple hours." Chell said from behind Gordon.

"Chell?!" Alyx said sitting up.

"Take it easy there." Chell told her, "Yes, I'm here."

"I'm alright." Alyx insisted, "We need to get moving anyway." She added before trying to stand up. Gordon tried to stop her but wasn't quite fast enough and Alyx fell into him, he caught her and helped stay on her feet.

"Well done Freeman." The vort said, "Come, I will put you on the road to White Forest. There are humans nearby with a vehicle. I have no doubt that they will understand our urgent need." The vort then led them into the lift.

"Thanks for this Gordon." Alyx told him.

"Anytime," he said, "Just be a little more careful in the future. You've got a lot of people relying on you being around."

"What do you mean?" Chell asked.

"We stole some information from the Citadel yesterday." Alyx explained. "Dr. Magnusson wants to use it to shut down that portal."

"Oh..." Chell said. "This just took on a whole different level of importance..."

"That's how I felt when Magnusson said she was carrying the Combine Portal Code." Gordon answered. "Now we're headed north to an old missile base."

"They're seriously gonna launch a rocket?" Chell asked.

"Yes they are." Alyx told her, "Now that the Combine's communication systems are failing they can actually get a launch off."

"Holy crap..."


	47. Recovery

**Chapter 47: Recovery.**

Alyx followed Chell and Gordon out of the mine and into the open air. Once her eyes had adjusted she sat down on a rock and looked over at a bridge.

"Looks like the Combine's on the move." She said.

"Yes," the vortigaunt said, "and they carry advisors within their incubation pods."

"Gordon..." Alyx said as a realization dawned on her.

"Yeah?" he answered turning around.

"Are those the things we saw in the Citadel yesterday?" she asked.

"I think so." he said. "They must be in a hurry to gang up." he added turning back to the bridge.

"Yes," the vort said in agreement, "they move north with great purpose."

Alyx bolted up, "White forest!" she almost yelled. Everyone turned to look at her, "They're probably headed for White Forest," she repeated, "We've gotta get there ahead of them!"

"The vehicle is in an enclave on the rim of this canyon." The vort said.

"Well what are we waiting for?" she said, "let's get moving!"

With that the group took off down the hill but Alyx quickly realized that she wasn't exactly ready for running yet. Her legs got stiff very quickly so she slowed down to a walk while everyone else kept running. She stopped and rubbed her leg to try to loosen the stiffness.

"Do you need some help?" She heard Gordon's voice and looked up to see him standing there.

"I can walk, I'm just really stiff." she told him.

"Hmm." he answered, "Well keep moving, that's liable to loosen you up a little bit. I'll watch your six."

"Gordon you don't have to stay back with me." she told him, not really wanting him to listen.

"Shut up and walk." he said, "I'm staying right here with you."

Alyx let a slight smile show through, she was glad he was willing to keep her safe. She and Gordon walked in the same direction Chell and the vort had gone. As they rounded the corner of the canyon they saw that a pack of antlions was surrounding Chell and the vort in a crude building with a thumper in the middle.

"Do you think you can sprint from thumper to thumper?" Gordon asked.

"I think so." Alyx said, her legs had loosened up some.

"Go on then," he said, "I'll be right behind you."

Alyx wasn't exactly the most thrilled about going first but she did trust Gordon to stay with her, if he'd spend a couple hours looking for something to make sure she survived surely he would just follow her for 200 yards.

After four short sprints they had met up with Chell and the vort.

"Uhh what the hell is that thing?!" Chell yelled as she was shooting some antlions.

"Ahh." The vort said, "The guardian has returned for us."

"What the hell did you guys do to piss it off?!" Alyx asked leaning against a wall.

"The guardian is enraged over our theft of the extract." the vort explained.

"Ok," Chell called, "Now what the hell did you do to the other one?"

"There's two?!" Gordon asked, he seemed a little rattled.

"Yep!" Chell yelled before running back inside.

"Gordon," Alyx asked, "Do you think you can take out those guardians?"

"Indeed," the vort said, "you must take out the guardians in order for us to escape this canyon. At this point you can kill them without consequence."

"If you take out the guardians, I'll tr to keep the antlions off of you." Chell said.

"Alright..." Gordon said, Alyx could tell he was still nervous.

"You've got this Gordon." she told him trying to be encouraging. It seemed to work because he looked at her before pulling out the gravity gun and running out into the open. Chell followed him with her shotgun.

After a few minutes of flying cars, explosions, shotgun blasts, and dying antlions the guardians were dead and Chell and Gordon were back with them.

"Well done Freeman!" the vort told him. "You have dispatched the guards and we can now go to where the vehicle awaits."

Alyx got up, she was feeling pretty much normal now. Still a little weak but other than that she was feeling fine. She followed the vort along with Gordon and Chell over to an elevator which took them up to an encampment which resembled an old mining complex. Gordon led the group out onto a balcony overlooking the whole complex.

"Heck of a view isn't it?" Chell said walking up behind her.

"No kidding." Gordon said. Alyx was busy scanning the bridge looking for their ride to White Forest. She wanted to get there so she could see her father.

"Hey, look out on that bridge." She said, "I think I can see the car you were talking about."


	48. The Toxic Pit

**AN: Maybe it's just me but I felt like it was a good time to put in some comic relief. It also ended up being a nice way to slide in a point that I'm sure some of you have noticed by now. Don't worry I have big plans for how to answer those questions.**

 **Chapter 48: The Toxic Pit**

Chell looked out on the bridge where Alyx was pointing. She could see a lot of cars but non of them appeared to be driveable. She looked back to a computer on which Alyx had zoomed in on the car she was talking about.

"It looks as if the humans attempted an escape but only succeeded in crossing the abyss." The vortigaunt said.

"Well Gordon," Alyx said, "Maybe between the four of us we can jump it back to this side."

"Yes," the vort replied, "If the Freeman will take on the hazards in the pit with me, the Chell and the Alyx Vance can lend protection from above."

"Hey," Alyx cut in, "I'm feeling a lot better."

"You will find that condition to be short lived if you decide to plunge into the toxins below." The vort told her.

She stood there for a moment and looked at Gordon, "Fine..." She said after a few moments, "What can I do from up here?"

"I'm no gun expert," Chell said from behind her, "But I think there's a rifle back here."

Alyx turned around, "Ok I guess that'll work."

"Excellent, let us hurry Freeman." the vort said before taking off down the stairwell.

Alyx turned to Gordon, "You'd better take care of yourself." She told him.

"I hear you." He responded before giving her a hug. At that point Chell almost failed to contain her laughter. Alyx looked like she'd been to California for a week without sunscreen.

"Freeman!" the vort called after he had let her go.

"I'm coming!" Gordon called before taking off. Chell was still trying not to laugh because Alyx was just standing there not sure what to do. Eventually she decided that if she was gonna embarrass Alyx she could at least help her out a little so she picked up the rifle and walked over to her.

"Here." she said nudging her on the shoulder. When Alyx turned around she still looked confused about what had just happened. "At a loss for words?" she asked smiling.

"Shut up!" Alyx said trying to sound angry but failing miserably.

"Why?" Chell teased, "You scared he's on to you?"

"No..."

"You scared he feels the same way?"

Alyx didn't respond she just glared at her.

"Hey hey," Chell told her, "If it makes you feel any better it looks like Chase is on to you too."

"What makes you say that?"

"He's been bugging Gordon about you." She explained, "And from the little bit that I've heard it sounds like you're probably not the only one who freaked out about that hug."

"Where are you going with this?" Alyx asked as she was setting up the rifle.

"Don't play dumb."

"I'm not..."

"Let me make this obvious." Chell began, "Gordon... Feels the same way... About you..."

Alyx just looked at her briefly before rolling her eyes and getting into a shooting position.

"What you don't believe me?" Chell asked.

"Nope."

"Ok now you're just being stubborn." Chell told her.

"Get me a box of ammo." Alyx told her without moving.

Chell did as she was asked. "Come on." she said, "He's gone out of his way to save your life, stayed back with you to keep you safe, and he even gave you a hug and you're just gonna shrug it all off?"

"Well what exactly am I supposed to do?"Alyx asked.

"Flirt with him a little bit." Chell told her. "That way he won't be so nervous to do stuff like that in the future."

Alyx was silent for a moment before responding. "You've been stuck with Chase too long," She said.

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" Chell responded.

"You sound exactly like him."

Chell laughed when she realized how true that statement was. "Well, I'm not gonna argue with that." she said, "But still, try being a little flirtatious sometimes. It'll make things move along."

"But what if he doesn't like what I try?" Alyx asked in between shots.

"Ok two things." Chell responded, "1) He likes you Alyx, I doubt he won't like it if you flirt a little bit. 2) Assuming that's the case then try something else."

"But I don't want to screw it up..."

"I get it," Chell responded, "But look at it from his perspective. If he's trying to do stuff like that and you just brush it off he's gonna assume he screwed it up and stop trying."

Alyx was silent for a moment. "Chase has taught you well hasn't he?"

"Not all of that was from him," Chell explained, "I've thought some of that up on my own. That said he has more life experience than me."

"Yeah." Alyx said, "You should try to get him to talk about his childhood. I've never been able to pull that off he'd always either ignore it or change the subject."

"Really?" Chell was mildly surprised.

"Yeah..." Alyx replied, "He keeps his past locked up in a vault."

Chell took a moment to reflect on the last week or so that she'd been with him. He did seem to avoid talking about his past.


	49. Shotgun Rider

**AN: Hey guys, I went back and read some of the earlier chapters of my story and realized how much I'd let my writing degrade. I'm hoping that I can start giving more descriptive chapters and make the characters seem a little more "alive." The consequence will be longer chapters and less frequent updates but I'm sure you will appreciate the extra effort. Sorry about that.**

 **Chapter 49: Shotgun Rider**

Gordon killed a couple zombies with some help from the vortigaunt. They were finally almost to the other end of the bridge.

"Whew," he said as they walked out onto the bridge, "We made it."

"Indeed." the vort replied, "And there is the vehicle we seek." it added pointing to a car which was missing most of the body panels but would serve well enough for what they needed. After a few moments it added, "Freeman. If you will bring the vehicle I will cross the bridge to let you out of here."

"Go ahead," Gordon replied, "Give me a minute and I'll catch up." The vort took off and Gordon took a minute to examine the car. Most of the body panels were missing as wel as all of the glass. "Well let's see if it starts." He said to no one in particular.

Gordon climbed into the car and turned to key. Nothing happened except for the dash lighting up. He then realized that the car was a standard transmission, and that Chase had told him that a car with a standard won't start unless the clutch is pressed. Gordon then started the car and drove across the bridge to Alyx, Chell, and the vort.

"Nice car Freeman." Chell said as he got out.

"Yeah," Alyx said in agreement, "We scored on this one."

"Well done Freeman!" the vort told him, "Unfortunately I must now return to my kin. We have been killing unhatched advisors as we find them."

"We'll keep on the lookout." Alyx said. Just as she finished another portal storm ripped through the valley, causing the bridge to tilt to one end and partially collapse.

"At least I beat that event..." Gordon thought to himself. "Thanks for your help." He told the vort.

"Yeah..." Alyx said, "I can't thank you guys enough for what you did for me."

"Our bonds are of nature and do not necessitate gratitude." The vort replied, "I will open the gate for you."

Gordon walked over and got into the car and started it. He waited for Alyx to make her way around to the passenger side. As she climbed in he thought he saw a wink but he wasn't dead set on it. But it did give him some confidence about being around her.

"Let's go!" Chell exclaimed as the gate opened. Alyx and Gordon both looked at her. "What?" She asked.

"You're usually pretty level headed," Alyx responded, "why are you all excited now?"

"It's been a while since I've had the wind in my hair." Chell responded, "Now let's get moving, we've got a base to get to."

Gordon and Alyx looked at each other and shrugged. Gordon put the car in gear and drove off through a tunnel. Shortly after exiting the other end of the tunnel they arrived at a road block.

"Well," Alyx muttered, "We should have guessed it wouldn't be as easy as driving down the road."

"Well let's take a little detour..." Gordon said as he noticed another road nearby that appeared to pass over the hill and down the other side. He downshifted and punched the throttle, the engine roared and carried them up the hill.

"Hey a radio tower!" Alyx pointed out, "We should try to send a warning to White Forest. I doubt they know the Combine's headed their way."

Gordon nodded and stopped the car. They all got out and began looking for a transmitter.

"Over here!" Chell called from a nearby building. Alyx ran over to her and Gordon began heading their way.

"I think that's it." Alyx said, "Let's hope it still works."

Gordon stood watch while Alyx and Chell went inside.

"There's no power." He heard Alyx say. "Let's see if we can find a power source." Before Gordon could even start looking for a source he heard a sound that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"We've got a live one!" He yelled as he spotted a hunter. He ran for cover and used the gravity gun to hit it with an explosive barrel. Aly came out of the building and used her pistol to start shooting it. Chell charged at the hunter and sank a couple shotgun rounds into it, killing it.

"There's another one!" Alyx called from behind him. Gordon turned around to find a hunter ready to charge him. Without thinking he picked up a nearby chunk of rock and used the gravity gun to punt it at the hunter. The rock managed top stun it long enough for him to pull out his SMG and launch a couple grenades at it to finish it off.

Just then Gordon heard shogun blasts coming from behind him as he turned to face the direction of the sound he heard Chell's voice, "Lookout Freeman!" Right as she finished that statement he found himself flying through the air, eventually being stopped by a tree. He took a moment to regain his composure before using the gravity gun to throw a log at the hunter. The log stunned it long enough for Chell to finish it off with her shotgun.

"Gordon!" He looked to his right to find Alyx kneeling down beside him. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Gordon to a moment to make sure he could feel every part of his body and the nothing was broken. "Yeah I'm ok." He responded. "Nice work taking out those hunters."

"Yeah we make a pretty good team." She replied, "We should find the power source, get our warning out and get moving."

"I think I found the power source." Chell called, "Let's go try it."

Gordon stood up and followed Alyx back to the transmitter.

"White Forest come in." She said messing with the dial, "Come in White Forest. White Forest do you read?"

A man appeared on the screen. "This is White Forest," he said, "Identify yourselves."

"This is..." Alyx began before being cut off by Magnusson.

"Alyx Vance?!" he yelled walking into view "Where on earth are you?! You should have been here hours ago!"

"We had a bit of a setback..." she replied.

"Don't you understand the gravity of the situation?" He asked, clearly annoyed. "The fate of humanity rests on the data you carry."

"I know but the Combine's headed your way." Alyx said, the live feed suddenly cut before she could finish. "Crap..." Alyx muttered, "I'm not sure he got that..."

"Man that guy seems hard to deal with..." Chell commented.

"He is." ALyx responded. She turned to Gordon, "We'd better get moving, I'll open the gate and meet you at the car."


	50. Meet the Advisors

**Chapter 50: Meet the Advisors**

Chell followed Gordon out to the car and climbed in the back. Gordon started the car and waited for Alyx to get in and then he drove out the gate she had opened and began driving down the hill. About halfway down Alyx pointed to something in the distance.

"Hey I recognize that peak!" Che said, clearly excited, "I'm pretty sure you can see it from White Forest. We must be on the right track."

"Woah..." Gordon commented as they got to the bottom of the hill. He shut the car off and they all got out to investigate.

"Hey that's one of those advisor pods." Alyx said, "Remember those things we saw in the Citadel Gordon?" Gordon nodded.

Chell didn't say anything, she was just looking at what she could only assume was the advisor pod. It was a white tub-like creature and it looked as though it had crashed since it was surrounded by what looked like an impact trail and the pod itself was sheared in the she felt a weird pulse that sent a chill down her spine.

"What was that?" Alyx asked, Chell recognized the fearful undertones in her voice. The whole group looked at each other as though each one of them was trying to make sure that the other two had also felt the sensation.

Another pulse ripped through the area.

"Is that an advisor?" Gordon asked quietly.

"It must be..." Alyx replied, "Let's do some poking around. The vort said we should kill them while we still can."

"And how will we do that?" Chell asked.

"We'll find out when we get there." Alyx told her. "Go ahead Gordon I'll be right behind you."

Chell took out her shotgun and followed Alyx as they made their way into a nearby barn. They wound their way inside and went through a hole in the floor to end up on the inside.

"I think we've found the advisor..." Alyx said looking up at a metallic looking pod of some kind. Chell looked around the room and noticed a bundle of wires connecting it to a computer of some kind.

"Oh hey," Alyx said, "Life support. What do you say we pull the plug?"

No one answered. Alyx walked over to the control panel for the cumputer and opened up the shields for a generator. Gordon took out the gravity gun and used it to destroy to power cell. The energy ball bohnced around destroying the computer.

"Woah!" Alyx said as Chell felt herself lifted off the ground.

"Uhh..." she asked, "What the hell is happening?!" Before anyone could reply they were all pulled up in front of the pod as it began to open revealing the advisor. Chell hadn't expected advisors to look like giant grubs in a brown sack. Nonetheless she watched as the creature examined them as well as some other things it happened picked up. Chell felt herself thrown across the room and she found that she was pinned in the rafters of the barn.

"Uhh..." She heard Gordon's voice and looked to see that the advisor had pulled him up in front of it and was using some kind of tounge to examine him. "Get off me!" he said. Just then there was a small explosion in the pod but it wasn't enough to stop the advisor.

"Gordon!" Alyx yelled as the advisor flipped him around a prodded the back of his neck. "Don't!" Alyx yelled as it reeled it's tounge back. Before anything else could happen there was another explosion and the advisor threw Gordon to the ground and flew away. Chell found herself hanging over one of the trusses in the roof and Alyx ran over to where Gordon was laying.

Chell jumped down out of the rafters. "Agh!" She said as she landed. "I forgot I don't have those boots anymore." She thought to herself. Alyx turned and looked at her. "I'm ok." She told her. "Is he?"

"I'm fine." Gordon said as he sat up. "Just reeling from what just happened."

"Yeah..." Alyx responded, "I can only imagine what that thing would have done if it had another two seconds..." She paused for a moment, "At least you're ok."

"Alert!" Chell heard a robotic voice she hadn't heard before. "Autonomous units subsumed. Adjust threat level: Probe, expunge."

"Sounds like it called its friends..." Alyx said. Chell heard a beeping sound coming from behind her and she took out her shotgun. She had no clue what was about to happen but she wanted to be ready. The door blew off revealing some soldiers, she fired into the group of soldiers. As they fell back Gordon ran in with a pulse rifle and finished them off.

"No," she heard Alyx say, "No more. We're getting the hell out of here."

Chell reloaded and followed her and Gordon back out to the car. As she ran outside she felt something sharp hit her in the arm. She looked to see a hunter about to charge her. She impulsively fired at it but she still braced herself for it. Just as the hunter began to charge she heard the rumble of the car and looked up just as Gordon ran the hunter over and killed it.

"Don't just stand there!" He yelled, "Get in!"

Chell and Alyx both ran over and got in the car. Gordon put the car in gear and punched throttle. As they drove through some boards and ran over some zombies a hunter chopper began chasing them. As Gordon was driving, the chopper overtook them.

"Hang on!" Gordon yelled before he swerved around a train car to dodge something the helicopter was dropping. After a few more minutes of running over zombies and dodging mines Gordon ended up driving through a barred gate.

"Crap!" Alyx yelled, "Get away from the car!"

Chell looked to see that the engine was on fire and she didn't waste a second getting out of the car.

"Hey," Chell heard a voice she was glad to hear, "Over here!"

She followed Alyx and Gordon over to find Chase.

"You guys made it!" He said. Just then a mine fell into the shipping container beside him and blew up.

Chell waited a moment for the concussion from the explosion to fade.

"Go see what you can do about that chopper." He told them, "I'll see what I can do about that fire and then I'll come help you out." He then ran over to the car and Alyx and Gordon made their way inside a fenced in area to take on the chopper.

Alyx climbed up into a shipping container as the chopper started dropping mines. Gordon used the gravity gun to throw one of the mines back at the chopper. The mine exploded damaging the chopper.

"I wonder if I can do some damage by shooting the mines as it drops them." Chell though to herself. She waited for the chopper to start dropping mines and then she shot one and when it exploded it damaged the chopper. Gordon picked up another mine and threw it at the chopper. After repeating this a few times the chopper finally fell out of the sky and crashed.

"Heck of a job!" Chase called running over to them.

"Yeah," another man called walking over to them. "You guys made quick work of that chopper. Anyone else up for a drink?"

"We've gotta get back on the road but our engine just went to hell." Alyx said as she caught up with them.

"You broke a fuel line." Chase told her. "I managed to get the fire put out but you're gonna have to fix that. Should be easy enough, they've got a shop over here."

"How do you know that?" Chell asked.

"He's been fixing one of our trucks the last few hours." The man told them. "Come on we'll get you set up." He then led them all inside a building to the shop he was talking about. As she walked Chell was surprised to find a large truck sitting there with the hood lifted up revealing a large engine suspended from a crane.

"There she is." Chase said as he followed them in.


	51. Blast from the Past

**AN: Forgive me for nerding out a little bit here. I'm actually going to school to learn the trade of heavy duty diesel engines and one of the first engines I worked on was a Series 60 and its one of the things Detroit Diesel is known for along side their old two-strokes (i.e. the 8v92 mentioned in the chapter). Anyway, I know I use'd a lot of lingo in this chapter but I hope you guys still enjoy it and now on with the chapter.**

 **Chapter 51: Blast from the Past.**

Chase walked up behind the other three and took moment to appreciate what he'd been able to pull off in the few hours he'd been working on the truck.

"Geez Chase it looks like you've been busy for a while." Alyx said.

"Hey," he replied, "You know me, I'm always up for helping people out."

"That's true." Alyx conceded.

"We used to use that truck to run supplies out to White Forest," the man who led them in began, "However about a week ago the old Detroit threw a rod and the truck's been in the shop ever since. But thanks to this guy we managed to get that engine out and put a different engine in it."

"Yeah," Chase elaborated, "That's a 3406 we've got in there, it's pretty similar to the 8v92 that was in there so the transmission should be fine. Once we get some oil and coolant in that thing we can get it out of here and get you guys back on the road."

"Well that could be an issue," the man said, "The other day the Combine set up an autogun out there and there's no way in hell you're getting past that thing."

Alyx walked over to a door to examine the situation. "Hmm. Gordon do you think you can do something about that roadblock while we're getting the car fixed up?"

"I guess so." Gordon answered.

"We've got a hatch up here that'll let you out into the yard," the man explained, "if you stay low you should be able to see the gun before it sees you. Good luck out there." He added as Gordon jumped down the hatch.

"So what is it you need to do?" Chell asked.

"We've just gotta put the fluids in it and she'll be good to go." Chase replied. "Once we get that done we'll see if she still runs and then try to get you guys back on the road." He turned to the man who'd been helping him in the shop. "We'll just drain the antifreeze out of that Detroit and put it in there, there should be about enough."

"Good plan." The man replied, "We probably should do the same with the oil." He turned to Alyx and Chell, "Can one of you two go grab a couple buckets for us to use?"

"Sure thing." Alyx said, heading upstairs with Chell following her.

Chase realized that he'd forgotten about having enough fuel to get to where he needed to go. He walked over to the engine to check that it was a 3406 and not a newer variant of it. "Do you guys have any old engine oil lying around?"

"Umm..." the man said thinking, "Yeah there's a few 55 gallon drums of old oil sitting around the corner out there. Why?"

"I'm gonna go grab one." Chase told him as Chell an Alyx came back down to him. He shifted his attention to them, "Alyx, have her help you flip the oil and coolant around between those engines. I'll be back in a minute or so."

"Sure thing Chase." Alyx replied and he then walked around the back of the shop and sure enough there was a stack of barrels with old oil in them. He began to rock the barrels a little bit to try and find a partial barrel. Upon finding one he checked to see how thick the oil was, it was thin enough for him to use so he carried the barrel back into the shop and set it down by the fuel tank.

"Umm what are you doing?" Chell asked.

"I'm gonna put some of this oil in here." He responded.

"You know that's the fuel tank right?" Alyx asked.

"I know," Chase said, "It won't hurt her any. Have you got the oil and coolant moved around?"

"Yep."

"Alright. Once I get her fueled up and then we'll see if she starts." Chase replied as he finished filling the tank with oil.

"You're gonna ruin the engine." Alyx said.

"Not this one." Chase told her. "It's mechanical."

"So?"

"There's no computer to confuse," Chase explained, "Plus it's a diesel so it'll run on damn near anything that burns."

"Hmm." Alyx responded, "I thought you'd forgotten the stuff you'd taught me."

Chase laughed, "Don't you worry about me Alyx." He said as he finished priming the fuel system. "You guys might wanna cover your ears though." He said as he grabbed a screwdriver and shorted across the starter terminals. After a few seconds of cranking the old CAT came to life.

"Woohoo!" The man who'd led them in cheered. "Hell of a job you did there!"

"Ahh it was nothing." Chase said, he took a moment to check that the throttle pedal would work right and then decided screw around with the governor a little bit. First he revved the engine until the speed evened out to listen for rod knock. Hearing none he then revved the engine a few times to make sure the turbo was responding before he let the RPMs hit the limiter for a few seconds. "Runs like a dream." he said after letting the engine return to idle. "You know the used to say that these 3406's were apocalypse proof." he added laughing.

The man laughed. "Come on let's get her loaded up." He said opening the door to the shop.

Chase closed the hood turned to Alyx as he climbed up into the truck, "Go ahead and have someone help you bring the car in."

"I'm on it." she replied. Chase watched as she headed outside and he put the truck in reverse and backed out to where the man was directing him.

"Alright here's our supply stash," the man told him, "feel free to take as much as you're comfortable driving with. I'll go help Dr. Freeman's girlfriend with their car."

"Alright,"Chase said hiding his laughter, "sounds good." He then got started carrying ammunition crates up to the front of the truck. After the third or so crate he turned around to find Chell standing there watching. "Can I help you?" he said.

"I was gonna ask the same thing..." She answered.

"Oh..." Chase had kinda figured she'd keep going with Alyx and Gordon but he wasn't gonna complain about her wanting to help. "Umm... You could load some of those crates with guns in them, I'm sure they could use them." After loading the truck with weapons, ammo, food, and medical supplies, Alyx came running out.

"I've got the car fixed up and Gordon and I are ready to go." She said. "Are you coming with us or riding with Chase?" she asked Chell.

"I'll stick with Chase." She said, "I wouldn't want him being lonely."

Chase looked at her, "Seriously?"

"What?" She said smiling.

"Nevermind," he said, "Let's get going." He said.


	52. A Change of Demeanor

**AN: Finally! After about ten rewrites of this chapter it's finally here. Sorry for taking so long on this chapter but it's here now so enjoy.**

 **Chapter 52: A Change of Demeanor.**

Chell walked around to the other side of the truck and climbed up into the cab. She felt weird being so high off the ground.

"Are you sure you wanna come with me?" Chase asked as he climbed up into the driver's seat.

"Yep." She replied. She was mainly just glad to have a chance to be with him again.

"Alright," Chase responded, "Let's see if this old girl's still got what it takes to haul."

Chell decided to tease him a little bit. "I just hope you can handle this thing." she said smiling.

Chase looked at her. "Do you think you can?"

"Nope." Chell answered. "I can't drive a stick. Much less something this big."

"It isn't that hard." Chase told her.

"Don't these trucks have like 18 different gears or something?" She asked him.

"Some of them do." he answered, "But this one only has 10. It's a five speed with a two-speed auxillary."

"I don't know what that means..."

"I'm guessing you don't really want me to explain so I'll shut up now." He said picking up her confusion.

"Sorry I just never really got the chance to learn this stuff..." Chell said, feeling a little bad about the situation.

'It's ok. Most women don't like mechanical stuff anyway." he told her. "I just used to be a diesel mechanic back in the day and this has been a bit of

a throwback for me."

Chell was silent for a moment, she realized that she'd finally been able to get him to open up a little bit. She frantically tried to think of something to say to maintain the conversation. "Where'd you work?"

"At a Detroit Diesel dealership you could say." he said, "I kinda miss that job."

"I could tell." Chell tried to think of another question. "What do you miss about it?"

"The two biggest things would have to be the good old Series 60's and 92 series."

"Hmm." Chell was trying to keep the conversation going. "Why'd you end up going into the military then?"

Chase was silent at first. "It's a long story." he said, "But if I were to shorten it to one word I'd say bureaucracy."

"What do you mean?" she asked. Chase was silent again and she noticed that he was slowing down. Eventually the truck stopped and Chase shut off the engine. "Chase... Are you okay?"

"I'm gonna take a break for a few minutes," He said, "Just stay here and I'll be back when my nerves calm back down..." With that he got out of the truck leaving her alone in the cab.

"What just happened?" She thought to herself. It took her a moment to realize that she was literally confused simply by Chase actually showing some emotion for once. It was something of a new turn for him. Chell felt kinda bad after she realized he probably was really confused. If emotions were something he'd never had to deal with he probably wasn't sure what he was feeling or how to deal with it.

A few seconds later a question dawned on her that she'd never thought of until just then: Why was he so emotionless to start with? He'd said before that he wasn't sure he could be considered human at this point. She wondered what exactly he'd meant by that but she was still waiting to get that out of him, and probably would be for a while. She looked in the truck's mirror and saw that he was sitting on the ground and leaning up against one of the wheels. Right after she saw him he looked up and seemed to start talking, as she looked around in the mirror a little more she saw who he was talking to.

"Is that..." she said under her breath as she realized that the man he was talking to was the same one who had been telling her what to do ever since she'd gotten out of Aperture. Her mind went racing at first but she calmed down and let her rational brain take back over.

"Ok." She thought to herself. "Apparently I'm not the only one getting orders from that guy." She was starting to wonder just how much that guy was behind this whole series of events. Who was to say he hadn't been telling Gordon and Alyx what to do. "I never thought I'd find myself in the middle of a conspiracy..." she thought to herself. She laughed a little at how absurd that thought was, but at same time it wasn't completely outrageous.

She looked over as she heard Chase climb back up into the cab. He sat down in the driver's seat and let out a sigh.

"What was that guy talking to you about?" Chell asked, not being able to resist the temptation.

Chase looked at her, and then back to the floor. "Chell..." He said.

"Yes?"

"I'm not allowed to say what he tells me but I'm about to tell you something you're not gonna want to hear..."

Chell felt her heart rate jump for a second before she calmed down. "Ok," she said, "I'm listening..."

"Chell..." he began, "I think you should find yourself another guy to take my place..."

"What?! Why?!" Chell asked frantically. She couldn't even think of finding someone to replace him.

"After talking to that guy and thinking about what he's been telling me over the past week or so I think he has plans for me..." Chase told her, "And I get the feeling that me living is not a part of that plan..."

"Chase..." She asked him, "How the hell am I supposed to replace someone like you?"

"I don't know..." he answered, "But you'd better start thinking about it."

Chell just stared at him blankly for a moment.

"I'm really sorry..." Chase said, "But I wouldn't be able to sit next to you without telling you that."

"I'm honestly not sure how to feel about this..." Chell said, "On the one hand, I finally have an excuse to nag you to have a little fun. On the other hand, it's hard to have fun with someone you care about with that thought in the back of your head..."

"You know," Chase said sounding a little more normal, "I'll meet you halfway on that, I really should loosen up a little bit and enjoy being around you. We get along pretty well."

"Well that's new." Chell responded.

"What?" Chase asked.

"I haven't really ever gotten a direct compliment like that from you." She said laughing.

Chase just looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Let's get back on the road."

"Good idea." Chell said still laughing. She had a feeling she was going to enjoy this.


	53. Welcome to White Forest

**Chapter 53: Welcome to White Forest.**

Alyx shielded her eyes as the car came out of a tunnel.

"Shit!" She heard Gordon exclaim as he slammed on the brakes. She looked to see that a part of a cliff had collapsed onto the road.

"I see another radio tower." She said pointing to what she assumed was the missile radio system at White Forest. "I'm pretty sure that's White Forest."

"Finally!" Gordon said with relief as he drove off the road and through the stream up to a gate that was blocking the stream.

"Bummer." Alyx said. "At least we're close enough to make it the rest of the way on foot. Come on Gordon, let's go!"

She climbed out of the car and walked beside Gordon as they made their way around the gate. As she looked up ahead in the stream she saw a crashed dropship. "I guess White Forest Sentries are doing their job." Just as she finished that sentence a strider stood up from under the dropship.

"Alyx..." Gordon said, "Get somewhere safe..." he added as he pulled out the RPG he'd found.

As she looked for a place to hide Alyx thought she heard Dog. She looked up at where the road was to see him out on a pine tree that had fallen. The strider shifted its attention to Dog and shot the tree as he jumped and grabbed it.

"What the hell?!" Gordon yelled.

"Dog! What are you doing?!" Alyx yelled. Dog proceeded to tear off a portion of the strider's armor. He then went on to pull something out of the head of the strider.

"Gordon, get back." She yelled as she realized that it was about to fall. As the strider landed she saw Dog get rolled into a cliff. "Dog!" She yelled as she ran over to him." She was relieved when after a couple seconds he woke back up and hugged her.

"Hey down there!" She heard a voice coming from above her, "Everyone alright?" She looked up to see two men standing where the road used to be.

"Yep." She answered.

"Is Dog ok?"

"Yes he is."

"Good. Now to get to White Forest you just need to follow the stream for a couple hundred yards. There's a path on the other side that'll take you right up to the base."

"Alright. Thanks!" She told them before turning to Gordon. "Tell you what," she told him, "Go get the car and we'll challenge Dog to a race."

"Umm..." Gordon responded.

"Aww come on." She said, "It'll be fun if nothing else."

"I guess so..." Gordon said as he went to get the car.

Once Gordon returned with the car Alyx climbed in. "Alright Dog..." She said as she or looked at Gordon, "Race you to the base!" Dog took off running and the car lunged and then stopped.

"What just happened?" Gordon asked.

Alyx couldn't contain herself, "I think you stalled the car Gordon." She said laughing.

"But it won't start again..." Gordon said.

"Oh..." Alyx suddenly felt bad for laughing.

Gordon looked at her for a moment. "I guess we're gonna lose." He said.

Alyx smiled, "Alright let's see if we can figure out what's wrong."

"I hope you know what to look for." Gordon said as they got out of the car, "I'm no mechanic."

Alyx looked at him, "If you want to learn talk to Chase at some point, he'll get you up to speed."

"He seems more like a diesel guy." Gordon answered.

"Yeah but he used to do maintenance on cars for people he knew." She told him.

"And you learned this from him when?" He asked.

Alyx thought for a moment, "I'd have been like five or something like that. The main thing he did was spark my interest, I wasn't really old enough to understand most of what he did."

"Hmm. Not bad, I guess that's paying off for you right now huh?"

"Yeah I guess." Alyx said as she started looking at battery box to see if the cables were where they should be.

"He taught you a lot didn't he?" Gordon asked.

Alyx thought for a moment before answering, "He made me who I am today..." She told him, "I'm not sure how he managed to have such an impact on me by the time I was six but he did."

"What do mean 'by the time you were six?'" Gordon asked.

"He left for boot camp on my sixth birthday," she said thinking back to that day. "And the day before he was set to come back home... well... you know what happened that day..."

Gordon just looked at her for a moment, "Sorry for bringing this up... I didn't mean to make you feel bad..."

"It's okay Gordon." she told him, "I've just had some crazy things happen since around the time we met and it's all starting to get to me. I'll be okay."

"Maybe getting a chance to talk to your dad will help. It's been a while since you've been able to talk to him." Gordon proposed.

"Yeah maybe." Alyx said as she found a loose spot on one of the battery cables and tightened the nut holding it on. "Hey try starting the car again." She said.

"Ok." Gordon said. Alyx got back into the passenger seat as Gordon turned the key and the car started. "Good job." He said, "Now let's get to the base." With that he took off up the hill until arriving at the gate to the base.

"Hey look!" A man yelled from a lookout tower, "It's Alyx and Gordon Freeeman!"

Gordon turned the car off and they both got out.

"Hey let 'em in!" someone said and the gate opened up for them.

"Thanks!" Alyx called back. She turned to Gordon. "Come on, let's head inside."

"Right behind you." He said.

"How about you walk beside me instead?" She asked, she wasn't afraid of what her dad would say if they walked in together.

"Uhh..."

"Shut up and walk." She teased. She knew she'd got him with that one.

As they got to the door into the base it opened and the man inside greeted them. "You guys made it." he said.

"Yeah," Alyx responded, "Finally."

"Yeah, we heard you ran into a little trouble out there."

"Yeah but we're here now." Alyx answered.

"I don't think Eli knows you're here yet. He's in silo one access unit. It's right through here." He said as he opened another door.

"Well Gordon..." She said, "You first."


	54. Missile Silo

**Chapter 54: Missile Silo**

Gordon looked at Alyx and nodded. He walked into the hallway and turned towards the door labeled, "Silo 1 Access Unit." He walked over into and looked around to find Eli typing away on a computer. As if Eli knew that he was standing there he turned around.

"Gordon! Man you made it." He said.

"It gets better." he said and looked back out the hallway as Alyx rushed in.

"Dad!" She said as she hugged him.

"Alyx!"

"I was so worried I wouldn't see you again..."

"It's ok sweetheart we're together now." Eli said still holding her. He let go and turned to Gordon, "And you son..."

"Oh shit..." Gordon thought to himself.

"I knew you'd help my daughter get back to me."

Gordon had no clue what to say since he wasn't at all prepared for that response. He was relieved when Alyx picked up the conversation.

"Yeah..." She said, "He did a pretty good job."

"Don't discredit yourself." He told her, "You weren't exactly just standing around."

"I guess we do make a pretty good team." She said.

"Yeah well that's good." Eli said, "Because when the Citadel was destroyed it knocked out the suppression field and now we all have to do our part." he added as he turned to Alyx. She gasped and pushed him lightly. Gordon didn't get what had just happened until the next sentence, "Hey, can you really blame an old man for wanting grandkids?" Gordon felt his face trun red and one look at Alyx revealed that she was apparently feeling the same way.

"Wow..." He thought to himself, "Chase was right." He then heard a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" Eli said as he walked over to the door and opened it.

Gordon was somewhat surprised to see Chase and Chell walk into the room.

"Well look who it is." Eli said, "You look a little different since the last time I saw you."

"Yeah the Combine got a hold of him." Gordon said

"I see." Eli responded, "Well are you ready to go see your dad again. I tried telling him you were around but he doesn't believe me."

"Maybe," Chase answered. "Where's he at?"

"He's down in the silo with Magnusson." Eli told him.

"Ehh," Chase responded, "I'll wait till he gets out of there. Him and Magnusson don't get along too well."

"Hey!" Alyx chimed in, "That reminds me! We need to get the data packet to him."

"Yes. Yes we should." Eli responded. "I'm sure he'll be glad for a chance to get out of the silo."

"Well I'll wait here until you guys come back." Chase said.

"Ok." Alyx said as her dad called the lift. When it arrived Gordon followed Eli and Alyx onto it and rode it down into the silo. As they descended Alyx had more questions. "Do we have any idea how long until the superportal's active?"

"We aren't sure. We're keeping an eye on it." Eli answered.

"And the Combine? Can we launch before they attack?"

"It's definitely gonna be close." Eli responded, "All they would need is one strider to take down our rocket."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get here any sooner."

"It's ok sweetie. I'm just so glad to have you back."

At that point the lift arrived at the entrance to the silo and Alyx gasped as she watched to doors open. As the doors opened the first thing Gordon heard was Magnusson yelling: "Get your cranio-conjugal parasite away from that nose cone!"

"Now listen here Magnusson..." Gordon didn't even pay attention to the rest of the statement, he was too busy failing to hide his amusement. Kleiner was never an angry man but you could tell when he got mad. That being said it was anything but intimidating and in fact it was pretty funny watching Kleiner fail to be intimidating.

"Good grief!" Kleiner said as he noticed them. "Eli! Why didn't you tell me they were here?!"

"Don't worry Izzy. You're not finding out much later than I did." Eli responded.

"Well I must say it is quite a relief, not to mention a delight, to see you here at last." Kleiner said as he hugged Alyx. "And Gordon, I see you and the HEV suit have been taking good care of one another."

"Oh those two?" Alyx said satirically, "They're inseparable."

Gordon was about to say something but got interrupted by Magnusson.

"The data people! The data!" he pushed, "Need I remind you all that the Combine are planning an attack on this base as we stand around and idly chat. Not to mention that the only hope for humanity itself lies on the data packet that you're carrying." With that he turned around and got back to work. Alyx sneered as he walked away.

"Alright." Kleiner said, "Where is this data packet that you've been carrying?" He lowered his voice in an attempt to avoid being heard, "If i delay a single moment I'll never hear the end of it."

"You've got that right!" Magnusson called from across the room.

"Here you go Dr. Kleiner. There's a ton of data." Alyx said handing him the packet.

"Thank you Alyx." He replied, "Now to begin the decoding process in the auxiliary control room."

At that point they all began heading for the lift out of the room when out of nowhere an alarm started going off.

"Umm... What's that?" Alyx said nervously.

"Another false alarm in the secondary silo." Magnusson explained. "There's a bunch of damned crows nesting in the tracks. I have absolutely no idea how I'm supposed to get anything done with all of this racket. He then looked at Gordon.

"Crap..." Gordon though to himself. He was looking forward to seeing Dr. Kleiner's reaction when he found Chase still alive.

"Freeman!" He called as Gordon tried to turn around. "Why don't you do something useful and find out what the hell is going on in there?"

Gordon looked at Alyx, whom he noticed was irritated, and then Eli.

"Umm..." Eli began, "Yes... Gordon, I'd feel better if you had a look."

"I'll come find you when you're done." Alyx said.

"Fine..." Gordon said, he was a little bummed but decided to do what he was asked. He walked over to Magnusson.

"The blast doors will have sealed due to the alert so you'll have to go through the bottom of the launch tube. I'll open this hatch to let you down." He said indicating a trapdoor on the floor. "Once you get down there, I'll have Uriah let you into the secondary silo."

"Alright." Gordon said, and with that he made his way down to the bottom of the silo.


	55. Cause for Concern

**AN: Ok two things: 1. I apologize for taking so long to finish this chapter. I really don't have good reason for it but here it is. 2. Despite that, I would like to warn you that my upload rate may stay this low for a while. With where I'm starting to get to a point where I don't already have a set direction to follow so it will take a bit more time to make the quality decent.**

 **Chapter 55: Cause for Concern**

Chell heard the elevator stop and as the door opened she heard Alyx talking to Dr. Kleiner and Eli. She turned around to face them and waited to watch what was about to unfold.

"Alright Izzy," Eli said, "Don't turn around until you're ready for a surprise."

"What are you talking about?" Kleiner responded.

"Turn around and find out." Chase said.

His dad then turned around slowly and looked up at him. At first he was quite obviously in disbelief, enough that he was speechless.

"Ok not being able to sleep much the past few days must really be getting to me..." He said.

"Ehh you might be my old man but I'll be damned if you've lost that hell of a mind of yours." Chase said.

"My boy..." his dad replied, "I'd been told you went missing and as such were likely killed by the nuclear weapon that destroyed "

Chase just chuckled. "Well I'm standing right in front of you so... yeah... That's wrong."

"Looks like you'll get that chance to see him on the battlefield after all doc!" Alyx chimed in.

"Aww hell..." Chase said.

"What?" Alyx asked.

"The last time he'd have been able to see me I'd have been on a S&R mission." He responded. Before anyone could say anything another security alarm went off again.

"For the love of god Freeman why are you taking so long?" Magnusson said over the intercom. "These feathered fiends have got to be the most persistent I've ever... Wait a minute... What's this?"

"Well..." Chase said, "Dad, you and Eli had better go start working on that code. I'm gonna head back outside for a little bit, I'll catch up with you later."

Chell stood and watched as everyone cleared the room. Once they'd all left Chase stood up and began walking outside. After seeing the events that had just unfolded she was worrying about what was on his mind. As he made his way down that hall she began to follow him. He went outside and walked over to a cliff and sat down on the edge. She walked over and sat down beside him.

"Hell of a view isn't it?" He said.

"You knew I was following you?" Chell asked.

"Yes," He responded, "I kinda figured you were gonna follow me when you saw me walking off by myself."

"Well it doesn't take a psychologist to figure out that something's bothering you." She told him, "That and you even told me something was bothering you."

Chase was silent. He continued looking out into the distance.

She put her a hand on his shoulder, trying to be supportive. "Chase..." She said, "Back when we first met you got shot in the forehead and it didn't kill you. You've taken a full magazine worth of SMG rounds to the chest, and walked away like nothing happened. Hell you've taken a .357 round to the throat and you're still here. What is it that you're afraid is going to kill you?"

"I'm not sure what's going to kill me." He replied, "But even knowing that every brush with death I've had has gotten more and more traumatic, I'm still not scared of death." He paused for a moment. "Since we're talking about this now, never let the death of anyone, no matter how important they may seem or how hopeless things feel, make you give up. Giving up only ensures that those deaths were pointless. If you continue to fight then they at least died for a reason."

Chell took a moment to process what he'd just said. "That's a really good way of thinking about that..."

"My Senior Drill Instructor sat us down and told us that right before graduation at boot camp." Chase explained.

"Is that what you're concerned about? Us giving up if you die?"

"Knowing Alyx," Chase replied, "I don't think she'd let you guys give up if someone died. For her that would just be more motivation."

"Well then what's bothering you Chase? I want to help." Chell pried. She was more than a little frustrated with him always dodging talking about what was bothering him.

Chase didn't answer.

"Chase." Chell said, her frustration becoming audible.

"Calm down." He responded, "Even if I tell you, you won't understand."

"I don't care." She said, "It's bothering you and you need to get it off your chest."

"You don't know what I need." He responded.

"Chase!"

"Look if me being like this bothers you, then leave." He replied sharply. He paused to calm down for a moment, "I'm sorry." He continued, "But I can't even understand what's bothering me so until I understand it I can't bring myself to say anything."

Chell was silent for a moment. "How can you not understand it?" She asked.

"How can you not understand Quantum Theory?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying it's really hard to understand something that's really complex when you don't know all the facts of the matter." He replied.

"Why would not knowing something bother you?"

"It's not that I don't know something," he answered, "There are lots of things I don't know. I just get the feeling that..."

"The feeling that...?" Chell wasn't going to get him this close without getting it out of him.

"Nothing."

"Chase."

"What?"

"Come on. You can trust me."

Chase sighed. "I'm starting to think that I'm the cause of everything that's been happening..."

"What are you talking about?!" Chell blurted out. Chase glared at her. "Sorry..." She said, he did just get done saying that she wouldn't understand it. "But seriously, how far back does this go?"

"The thing that's been bothering me ever since Nova Prospekt has been a memory of marking off a calendar in 1942." Chase responded.

Chell was astonished but somehow managed to hide that with her reply. "That long ago huh?" She asked.

"Yeah..."

"You really do have one hell of a story to share don't you?" Right after she finished asking that question she heard a dropship in the distance. She looked in the direction the sound came from to find, not one, but three dropships.

"Oh shit!" Chase said, "We'd better get inside and tell everyone else to gear up."

"Alright. Let's go!" Chell replied as she got up.

"Oh and one last thing..." Chase added as he got up. "That conversation never happened if anyone asks about it alright?"

Chell nodded.


	56. The Borealis!

**Chapter 56: The Borealis!**

Alyx waited as the blast doors started to open. "Thank god someone's still alive in there." She thought.

Once the doors were open she followed the vortigaunt and Chell into the silo. Some soldiers began shooting at them from the bottom of the silo, the vortigaunt took care of the solders and then the room fell silent. Dr. Magnusson began talking over the intercom but Alyx didn't care, she knew someone had to be alive.

"Gordon?" She called.

"Freeman!" Chell called.

Alyx saw a flash of orange from behind some crates. She ran over to it and was relived to see Gordon standing up as he came out from a maze of crates and shelves. Before he got a chance to regain his composure she hugged him. "Thank god you're alive." She said. After a moment she released him and turned around to find Chell failing to hide a smile. Alyx felt her face turn red but she brushed it off and tried to change the subject. "We'd better let my dad know you're ok."

"Follow." The vort said as he led them up to the hallway to the auxiliary control room. Once the door was open he turned to Alyx. "If you can take them from here I will return to my place of honor beside the Magnusson."

"Sure thing." She responded.

"Thanks." Chell said as the vort walked to where Dr. Magnusson was working.

Upon reaching the door to the control room Alyx used a speaker to try to reach her dad.

"Alyx is that you?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Is Gordon alright?"

"He's with us."

"Good. Good." Eli paused for a moment. "I'll get Izzy to let you guys in."

"Ok."

A moment later the door opened. Dr. Kleiner walked back over to the computer and resumed his work.

"Hmm. Strange." He said after few moments.

"What is it Izzy?" Eli asked.

"There appears to be two files within the data packet." Kleiner responded.

"Two?" Alyx asked.

"Yes." Kleiner answered, "Let me see what this one is." He added as a loading screen appeared on the monitors in the room. Once the loading was complete Alyx was surprised to see Dr. Mossman.

"Judith?!" She said. Then a video started playing.

"I'm fairly sure we've nailed down the locationn of the project. At the time of recording it's difficult to state how much of it may still be intact or if what's remaining would compromise our work if found by the Conbine. We'll need some time to take a close look at it to be sure and I should be able to give a better opinion within a few hours. If we're correct about the location of the site..." she was interrupted by an explosion in the near vicinity. "I'm gonna cut this short, we've just been spotted." She then ran out of view and the camera was knocked over and two elite solders ran into view and began shooting.

"Oh my god..." Alyx thought out loud. Just when she thought nothing else would happen a hunter appeared and seemingly grabbed the camera.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her go!" Her father said, clearly frustrated.

"What are you..." Alyx asked before Dr Kleiner responded to her dad.

"There was no stopping her Eli." He said, "Hold on... There's something else here..." Alyx looked at the screen until the static cleared. "It's... It's... The... The Borealis!" Dr. Kleiner exclaimed.

"Dear god..." Ayx's father said.

"The Borealis?" She said, "It's real?"

"Indeed it is. Despite it's quite legendary stature." Dr. Kleiner explained, "Our 'peers' at Aperture Science were about to complete a project full of promise but in a rush to beat Black Mesa for funding they compromised ordinary standards of risk. For all we knew their research vessel had simply vanished with all hands, even part of the dry dock was destroyed in the incident. Quite ingenious of Dr. Mossman to hide it all in the carrier wave."

"Then she must still be alive up there." Her father said. "But if the Combine catch her they'll tear out everything she knows. There won't be anything left of her. I'm going after her."

"Dad..." Alyx said.

"Now Eli," Dr. Kleiner interjected, "The only thing worse than Judith falling into their hands would be for them to get ahold of you. She may know about the Borealis but you know everything there is to know about the resistance."

"Listen to Dr. Kleiner dad..." Alyx told him. "Gordon and I will be able to bring her back." Just then Chase walked into the room.

"Hey dad Magnusson sent me to bring him back the code?" He said.

"Oh fie!" Dr. Kleiner said. "Tell him it just needs a few more minutes."

"You'll have to bite that bullet. I've gotta take Gordon to get him ready for the striders that are headed our way."

"Striders?!" Alyx said, her concern audible.

"Yeah Magnusson has something he wanted me to show you while we still have time to get in some practice." Chase explained to Gordon.

"Well be careful out there you two." She said.

"We'll be back." Chase replied. "Come on Gordon let's get ready." Alyx watched as they headed down the hallway along with Dr. Kleiner. Right before the door closed behind them she heard Chase say, "Was that thing on screen what I thought it was?" Before anyone could answer the door finished closing.

Suddenly Alyx walked over to her father and without thinking uttered the phrase, "Dad, prepare for unforeseen consequences..." Right after she finished she instantly snapped back to reality. "Why the hell did I just say that?" Was the first thought that went through her mind but it quickly vanished when she realized that her father looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"What did you say?!" He said in shock.

"Don't worry about it." She responded. "Let's just get you off your feet." She then helped him sit down on the couch in the room with them.

"Thank you baby." He told her, "I'll be fine in a minute or two."

"Do you need anything?" She asked.

"Actually," He said, "Would you mind getting me cup of tea? There should be a hot plate in the old staff room."

"Sure thing." She told him. She turned to Chell. "Can you keep an eye on him for me?"

"No problem Alyx." Chell answered.

"Thanks."


	57. Man Down!

**AN: So this was a little long but it definitely is one of the chapters I feel best about. I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you guys enjoy it too.**

 **Chapter 57: Man Down!**

Gordon pointed the gravity gun out over the strider target. He pulled the trigger and the device arched through the air and landed on top of the hull. He then took out his SMG a shot the device.

"Alright see if you can do that again and then we'll call that good." Chase told him.

"Alright." Gordon replied as he picked up another Magnusson and threw it at the strider. It stuck and he shot it.

"Alright Freeman," Chase began, "I think you're good to go."

"I don't know..." Gordon wasn't sure he was completely ready considering what was at stake.

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Chase told him. "Let's go get up to speed on the battle plan."

"Alright. Let's go." He replied as he followed Chase into a garage where the car was sitting.

"Hey!" A man who was with the car said. "You guys ready?"

"Yep." Gordon answered.

"Alright now take a look at this." The man said. "I've taken a few liberties with your car." He pointed to a metal rack on the back. "I added a rack back here for Magnussons. I also tweaked the on board radar so that combine will show up red now. Plus it'll send a homing signal to you H.E.V. Suit in case you get separated from your car."

"Wow..." Gordon said, "Thanks..."

"No need to thank me." The man responded. He walked over to a nap and used his foot to indicate a radio tower on the map that was marked "silo." "We're right here at the south end of the valley. The rest of the gang's up north at the old sawmill." He added as he pointed to a saw blade on the map. "Head up there and they'll fill you in on the battle plan. Good luck out there you two."

"Thanks." Chase said and Gordon nodded and got into the car and started it. Chase climbed in the other side. "Now Gordon I'm gonna warm you, this car might handle differently because my ass is a little bit heavier than Alyx's."

Gordon laughed. "Duely noted." He said as he drove out to a gate.

"The sawmill's at the far end of the valley." A man told them as the gate was opened.

"Alright." Chase said. "Here goes nothing Freeman."

Gordon drove the car up through the valley until they arrived at a building with a group of people standing there.

"Hey over here." A man said.

Gordon was about to shut the car off when Chase stopped him.

"Leave the car running," he said, "Starting it can waste precious seconds in the middle of a fight."

"Ok." Gordon said as he followed Chase over to where the people were standing.

"So they've sent me Freeman and Kleiner have they? Good men." Gordon and Chase looked at each other. The man continued. "Alright men here's the low-down. We've spotted a dozen striders just north of us. Our job is to keep 'em from reaching the base to the south. And just in case striders aren't bad enough, recon indicates they're being escorted by packs of hunters."

Gordon looked at Chase, who was still listening to the man talking.

"What we need you two to do is..."

"Attention! North perimeter breach!" A voice came over the loudspeaker. "A strider has been spotted by the cranes!"

"Shit!" The man said, "Defensive positions! Move!"

"Gordon I'll try to pick of them damn hunters if you can focus on the striders." Chase called to him.

"Alright." Gordon replied. With that he ran over to a delivery port and grabbed a Magnusson Device. He watched as Chase used his shoulder mounted warp cannon to take out the hunters. "Geez..." He thought to himself. "How the hell did learn to aim so well?"

Once Chase had taken out all of the hunters Gordon lined up his shot and punted the device at the strider. It stuck and then one of the rebels managed to shoot it. There was a white flash and parts of the strider went flying.

"Woo baby!" Chase yelled, "This oughtta be a real show!"

Gordon ran back to the delivery port and grabbed another device, he took that once to the car and went back for another one. Right as he picked up the device he heard the loudspeaker again.

"Strider at the sawmill!"

Gordon looked up in awe to see a strider charging faster than he'd ever seen one move. Once it got within range it fired a shot at the building and it collapsed. Two dead bodies went flying. Before he could process what had just happened he punted the Magnusson he was holding at the strider and shot it. The strider exploded and fell to the ground. He looked over his shoulder as he heard cannon shots from Chase who was running up to his side.

"Just brush that one off Freeman." He told him, "What's important is that they don't reach the silo."

Gordon looked at him an nodded.

"We have one strider at the water tower!" The loudspeaker blared, "And one at the cranes!"

"Alright Freeman you'd better take that car. I'll see what I can do on foot." Chase yelled.

"Are you sure?" Gordon asked.

"Move! That's an order!" Chase yelled as he took off towards an incoming pack of hunters.

The process repeated a few times until they had been pushed back to within sight of the silo.

"Head's up people we are not done yet!" The loudspeaker came on again. "We've spotted dropships carrying more striders... And gunships! We've got about a minute before they hit so gear up!"

Gordon went and grabbed another Magnusson and put it on the car when he heard Chase call his name.

"I'm gonna tell you this now." He called, "Don't worry about the gunships. Focus on the striders. If we can save the rocket that's all that matters."

Gordon gave him a thumbs up to show he understood. Chase returned the gesture before running down over the hill to kill some more hunters.

Sure enough, after a minute had passed, he heard dropships flying overhead and just behind them were gunships. Gordon looked up at one just in time to see it get destroyed by a shot from Chase.

"Alright everybody, this is all or nothing! We've got three striders coming in! One from each direction! If we can hold them off we'll have defeated the Combine's offensive!"

Gordon climbed into the car and ran the engine against the rev-limiter in order to meet the first strider half-way. He went back for another Magnusson and used it to take out the second one. The third one had a decent length to go so he took the few moments he had to catch his breath. After a moment or two he picked up another Magnusson and turned around only get knocked over backwards. He looked up to see a hunter about to charge him. He reflexively grabbed a nearby pulse-rifle from a dead rebel a used a charged shot to kill the hunter. The device was shattered so he went back for another one.

"Red alert! There's a strider getting close to the base! Hold them off!"

Gordon ran outside and punted the device at the strider. As he prepared to pull out his SMG time seemed to slow down and he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that made his heart rate jump.

"Alyx?!" He thought to himself. "She's gonna get herself killed!" He looked back to the strider to find that he'd missed it with the device. He panicked and ran back for another one. As he lined up his shot he saw the strider take the stance to fire a cannon shot.

He punted the device and while it was in flight he heard the shot begin to charge...

He pulled out his SMG and tried to shoot the device. The gun misfired...

He grabbed his 9mm and took aim, at this point he could see the blue line and at the other end of that line was Alyx and the missile silo.

"No!" He screamed as if someone could hear him.

"Get down!" He heard as he fired the pistol.

The cannon fired...

The device exploded...

"Dammit!" He thought to himself. He could have kicked himself for missing the first Magnusson. He didn't even want to look at what had just happened.

The entire valley fell silent for a few seconds.

"Dammit!" He repeated to himself. "I let everyone down..."

"That was close..." The loudspeaker finally broke the silence. "All personnel please return to base immediately."

"Wait what?" Gordon whispered. He finally decided to look at the carnage. He wanted to keep his distance to allow himself to prepare for the vitriol he was sure he was about to receive.

Upon looking at the scene he was relieved to see Alyx still alive although visibly shaken and disoriented. There were rebels headed back into the base but there was one person sprinting against the flow. It was Chell.

He looked back over to where Alyx was. He noticed a medic kneeling down on the ground where Alyx seemed to be looking. Chell ran over to him and knelt down as well. He looked at a wall surrounding the silo, there was a large area covered with splattered blood in roughly the shape of a human body.

Gordon began to make his way closer to the scene, still trying to avoid detection. As he got closer he recognized the light blue color of Chase's body armor as well as his warp cannon.

"Oh my god..." he thought to himself. His knees almost gave out as he realized what had just happened.

Chase had tackled Alyx to get her out of the way of the shot and in the process ended up taking the full brunt of the cannon's power. Frankly Gordon was surprised his body was still in one piece.

As he made his way closer Alyx eventually noticed him and got up and started towards him. He stopped in his tracks as she walked up to him. She paused and looked him in the eye for a moment.

"I'm sorry..." he said but was interrupted when she put her finger over his lips.

"Shh." She said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't blame yourself. You still managed to save the rocket and that's all that matters." She said in a comforting voice.

Gordon felt a knot in his throat form as she made that statement. It was almost identical to the last thing Chase had said to him. He looked down at Alyx and his emotions finally got the better of him and he just grabbed her and pulled her into a bear hug.

"It's okay Gordon... It's okay..."


	58. Raising the Stakes

**Chapter 58: Raising the Stakes.**

Chell was trying her best to stop herself from losing it. She wasn't scared until Gordon had missed the last strider with the Magnusson. Once that had happened she felt her heart jump into her throat. She had even told Alyx that she would get herself killed if she went out and tried to help. Even her dad told her that it wasn't worth it, but she wen't anyway. Chell had stayed with Eli and Dr. Kleiner to watch the unfolding battle.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. She looked to see Alyx and Gordon standing there. "Are you gonna be okay?" Alyx asked.

"I'll be fine." Chell responded, "Just give it some time to sink in and I'll be in."

"Alright." Alyx said, "We're gonna go watch the launch."

Chell nodded as Alyx and Gordon headed inside. A couple minutes passed before the medic broke the silence.

"I'm going to go inside a get a couple vorts." He said.

"Why?" Chell asked.

"We're gonna want to get him out of here." He answered.

"Oh ok...". Chell said. It was then that she remembered what he had told her earlier about not letting anyone's death make you lose hope. "Y'know..." She said to no one in particular, "If he saw me doing this right now he'd probably tell me not to worry about him dying and just to keep fighting. I guess if I want to make him happy I'd better go find Alyx and Gordon."

With that she picked up her portal gun and went inside to find them.

She made her way to the main control room and found Alyx, Gordon, Eli, and Chase's dad.

"You're just in time." Alyx told her. "We're ready to start the auto-sequence."

"I believe Gordon should have the honor." Eli said.

The room was silent for a moment. Chell looked at Gordon who was looking back at her.

"I think we all know who really deserves this..." He said, "But nonetheless I'll do it." He added as he pressed the launch button.

The silo doors began to open and everyone watched as the rocket took off and disappeared into the sky.

"This is going to work? Right?" Alyx asked her father.

"It has to." He replied.

"Indeed it will." Dr. Kleiner explained, "Once the rocket reaches altitude we'll be able to switch on the Xenium resonator."

"Well let's get outside!" Eli said, "I'd like a better view of the fireworks."

"There should be quite a show. Unfortunately I won't be able to come with you." Dr. Kleiner said, "Magnusson and I will have to keep an eye on the rockets trajectory. We'll be out to see you off as soon as we can."

"Ok I'll hold you to that." Alyx said. She turned to Chell as Eli and Gordon left the room. Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Magnusson went back to work. "Are you gonna come outside with us or not?" She asked quietly.

Chell thought about it for a moment. "I think I'm gonna sit this one out."

"I understand." Alyx replied, giving her a hug. "Gordon and I are gonna head north to get Judith. I'll see you when we get back."

"Thanks." Chell responded, "And good luck."

"Thanks." Alyx said as she left the room.

Chell went to a room where she could be alone, she really needed some time to think. She had to admit, it felt kinda odd not having Chase to talk to. She started thinking about the time she'd spent with him. She remembered when she first met him, him teaching her how to shoot a gun. Something that had definitely kept her alive. She even remembered all the way back to the "choice" she was given to go through all of this or just to die after destroying that computer.

Her thoughts shifted to the guy with the briefcase. She remembered something Eli had said, and for some reason, she knew that the man he was referring to was the same guy who had gotten her involved with all of this. She was starting to wonder if that guy had actually been watching theirs backs the entire time. He even did intervene a few times by giving her vague instructions and he had even talked to Chase before he was taken out by that strider.

"I almost wonder if he has some kind of plan in place and he's been pulling strings for god knows how long to make all of this play out." She thought to herself. "But why would he do all of that?" She asked herself, not that she could even really understand the question well enough to answer it.

"Why me?" She asked no one in particular. "Why did he put me through all of this?" Even after a few minutes on those questions she had nothing. Her mind went back to Chase, she was starting to wonder why exactly he was the one that guy had chosen to put through everything he had.

After thinking on everything Chase had survived. Way back when she first met him he almost go sniped. Later at Eli's lab he was trapped under a mass of fallen rubble. Later still, he was even captured by the Combine and she had managed to get him back, and man was she glad she did. Right before Gordon went into the citadel, he was hit by something that made a deep scar across his back. He'd been shot in the throat by a revolver, and he survived all of it. "I guess something had to beat him eventually." She then began to wonder if the guy with the briefcase was testing him or something.

"Impressive wasn't he?" Chell heard the man's voice and almost had a heart attack.

"Yeah..." Chell stammered, still reeling from being startled.

"Fortunately for him," the man added, "My employers are also impressed with his performance."

"So you have been testing him..." Chell said.

"Indeed they have." He replied, "However their reason for testing him is not up to me to reveal."

Chell was silent for a moment. "Why is he so lucky?"

"My employers have invested quite a lot of time into him."

"How much time?" Chell asked.

"They have had me intervening in his life since 1942."

Chell remembered Chase mentioning that year. She also wondered why this man was suddenly being so specific instead of his normal vague behavior.

"I must admit that I have taken quite a liking to him myself. Along with someone else whom you will meet pretty soon." The man added. "As such I have convinced my employers to allow him to choose his fate."

"Really?!" Chell couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Indeed but such developments have a significant cost associated with them..." the man responded. Chell felt the pulse of an advisor. She felt her eyes widen and looked at the man.

"What kind of cost?" She asked, fearing that she was about to die.

"My employers are very unforgiving when it comes to the price paid for free choices." He answered, "As you know he saved a friend of yours from certain death."

"Alyx!" Chell thought to herself. She wanted to run but her legs wouldn't move.

"My employers made me see to it that she would pay in full for what she has, and is to receive." The man said as he left the room.

Chell was petrified. "Please..." she whispered to no one in particular. "Please don't take anyone..." She suddenly felt her heart drop to her stomach as she suddenly realized that the stakes of all their actions had just taken a massive spike.


	59. Settling In

**AN: I just wanted to let you guys know that I think I know how I'm going to end this story. So if at this point you have any questions you want answered leave them in a review or send me a PM or something. I will do my best to answer them all in this story. Ok enough stalling, on with the chapter!**

 **Chapter 59: Settling In.**

Gordon was awakened by a gentle shaking.

"Gordon?" He was relieved to hear Alyx's voice. The last thing he could remember was watching the advisor pull her in and at that point he didn't want to look. He remembered landing on the floor of the hanger and he must have just instantly fallen asleep. "Gordon wake up."

He slowly opened his eyes. "Alyx." He said as his vision adjusted. "Thank god you're okay."

"I'm okay." She responded, "But we need to get inside and get some rest. Tomorrow we'll have to head north to get Judith."

"Alright." Gordon said as he stood up. He really needed to get a solid nights rest, it had been a while. "How long was I asleep anyway?" He asked as they started walking back inside.

"About half an hour." Alyx told him. "I was scared at first until I heard you breathing."

Gordon didn't really know what to say so he just kept walking. He was slightly confused when Alyx walked right past the door. "Umm... Where are we going?"

"I figured we should go get at least somewhat cleaned up." She answered. "There's a small stream back here that we can use for water."

"I never thought I'd have to take a bath in a stream..." Gordon thought out loud.

"Yeah well don't take to long." Alyx said jokingly, "I'd like to get back inside before nightfall so we won't freeze on our way back inside."

"Fair enough." Gordon answered as he continued following her. Eventually they made it to a small stream with a pool.

"Ok you go first." Alyx said when they arrived. "I'll keep watch until you're done."

Gordon watched as she walked over to a nearby tree and sat down. He looked back at the pool and then back to Alyx.

She turned around as if she knew he was looking at her. "Don't worry," she said, "I won't look." She then turned back around.

Gordon waded down into the water until it was up to his waist. He then slipped out of his HEV suit and tossed it onto the bank along with the rest of his clothes. He took a few minutes to get clean before climbing back out, wringing out his clothes and putting on the first layer of clothes under his suit. He then walked over to Alyx.

"Alright." He said, "You're up."

"Okay." Alyx said, "I'll be back in a few."

Gordon picked up a shotgun and sat down on a rock. He watched the setting sun and let his mind wander. As much as he wished he could avoid it his thoughts went back to Chase. His mind went all the way back to when he'd first been introduced to him after being hired at Black Mesa. He seemed to be a lot more laid back at that point. Even up until he was captured by the Combine. After Chell had gotten him out of Nova Prospekt he'd seemed to be growing more distant and anxious. He also seemed to know something about the Borealis but it also seemed like most people from Black Mesa did so he brushed that off as unimportant.

"Alright Gordon," he turned to find Alyx wearing just her hoodie and jeans, "Let's head inside to get some rest."

"Sure thing." He replied as he picked up his suit and walked with her back inside. Once there, he managed to find his way back to the auxiliary control room. There was still an image of the Borealis on the monitors. He laid down on the couch in the room and simply looked at the picture for a while. He thought about what had happened after he'd last left the room. He remember Chase asking him about the Borealis and then moving on to teaching him how to use the Magnusson Device. A lump formed in his throat as he remembered telling Chase that he wasn't sure he was ready but Chase told him he would be fine and they headed outside.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He looked to find Alyx walking into the room. She turned and closed the door behind her and when she looked back to him he noticed that she was carrying some kind of blanket along with her jacket.

"Hey Gordon." She said as she walked to the middle of the room.

"Hi Alyx." He replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just wanting to check on you." She answered.

"Really?" Gordon asked.

"What?" Alyx responded, "Am I not allowed to?"

"No. I just figured that with everything that's happened to you today you'd want some time to yourself." He told her.

Alyx sighed. "I did lose two people I know I'm going to miss for a while..." She said, "But any little thing I can do to keep that number from rising to three, I'll do in a heartbeat."

Gordon was silent. He looked back to the monitor. His thoughts were interrupted when Alyx sat down on his legs and laid down on top on him.

"Umm What are you doing?" He asked as his heart rate almost doubled.

"Getting comfortable." She said as she pulled the blanket up over them. "Why?" She asked with a giggle. "You nervous?"

"No just..."

"Really?" Alyx responded, "because your glasses would beg to differ with you on that."

"Damn..." Gordon whispered as he looked away from her out of embarrassment.

"Relax Gordon." Alyx told him as she laid her head on his chest. Gordon looked back up at the monitor.

"Alyx..." he asked.

"Hmm." She said without moving.

"Did Chase ever talk to you about the Borealis?"

Alyx just looked at him for a moment. "Chase never talked about his past. That being said he left for boot camp when I was six and I never got to see him again until the other day, so he might not have told me because I was so young. But I've talked to Chell about that and she can hardly get anything out of him either." She explained, "Why do you ask? Did he say something about it?"

"Well he did ask me if that was what we were looking at a while ago. So I get the impression he knew something about it." Gordon responded.

"That could be..." Alyx said. "Too bad we're not gonna find out what he knew..."

Gordon felt a lump in his throat. "I told him I wasn't sure I would hold up under pressure..."

Alyx looked up at him. "Gordon. Don't blame yourself, you saved way more people than you let die."

Gordon looked at Alyx as she was lying on top of him. "At least you think so..." he said. After a second or so had passed he was starting to wonder what she was staring at. "What are you looking at?"

"Your eyes." Was the answer.

"What about them?" Gordon wondered, he was really feeling uncomfortable, but in a good way.

"They're a really unique shade of green..." Alyx told him with a slight smile.

"Umm..." Gordon didn't really know what to say and he felt even more awkward when Alyx reached over and pulled off his glasses. "What are you doing?"

"You're glasses keep fogging up..." Alyx replied.

"Well... Yeah..." he answered.

"Don't be so nervous." Alyx told him.

"With what you're doing right now that's hard..." He answered.

Alyx didn't react at first. Instead she just leaned in and kissed him. It took a moment for him to process what was happening, he decided to just go with it and held her close. When Alyx finally broke the kiss she rested her head on his shoulder. "Now let's get some rest. We've gotta get moving tomorrow morning."


	60. A New Face

**Chapter 60: A New Face**

Chell woke up to the sound of footsteps in the hallway. She was so used to being with Chase every night that she had barely gotten any sleep. Weary, she got up, stretched, and was about to open the door when Alyx opened it.

"Oh hey..." she said as Chell recovered from the surprise. "Gordon and I were about to leave to try and find Judith. With any luck we'll be at the base just before sunrise. Once we get there we'll try to radio back to you guys what's going on."

Chell took a moment to process what Alyx had just said. "Alright." she said, "Be careful out there. I'll let Chase's dad know what's going on."

"Ok. Thanks." Alyx said. She waved at someone down the hallway before leaving to go get Gordon. Chell turned around to see who she was waving at and was surprised to see a young man in what she recognized as the same battle gear Chase was wearing when she first met him. She could tell he was still looking at Alyx so she took the opportunity to look him over. His short hair was such a dark brown that it almost looked black, his face was clean shaven and he definitely had the build of a grunt. She looked at the name tag on his uniform to see what she could figure out. "Cpl. Shepherd" was all it said.

"Well I know his last name." Chell thought to herself as he shifted his attention to her.

"Ok quick question before I introduce myself." He said. "Who the hell was she?"

Chell smiled as she realized that he'd been eyeing her up. "Her name's Alyx."

"I see." He replied. "I hope Dr. Freeman knows that he's one lucky bastard..."

Chell laughed. "Alright now it's your turn." She said, "Who the hell are you?"

"Everyone calls me Corporal Shepherd but if you don't mind, just call me Adrian. How about yourself?"

"My name's Chell." She told him. "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you." Adrian replied.

Chell picked up her shotgun and the portal gun before walking out into the hallway to head outside. She didn't have a lot else to do she figured she'd go help keep watch or something. "So what exactly are you doing here Adrian?" Chell asked.

"Well I was off to the southwest in City 14. Me and a few others decided to head this way when we heard about what was going down in City 17." He explained. "We took a few old Deuce's and two 5-tons and loaded 'em up with food and ammo and a couple artillery cannons we'd found and then set out on our way."

"How many people are with you?" Chell asked.

"We lost a few to some Combine forces we ran into out in the woods," Adrian explained, "But I'd say probably at least twenty of us made it. I will say it was a bit of a bummer when we finally got close enough to see the citadel and then had to watch it get destroyed."

"That was one hell of a fireworks show though..." Chell pushed a lump back down her throat.

"I'll say." Adrian agreed. "After seeing that we decided to still head for the city and look for survivors but all we found was a small abandoned camp on the outskirts. We decided to bed down for the night and I went looking around to see what had happened to the camp when I found a room full of dead bodies and a few zombies. After taking care of the zombies I noticed a map on the wall and next to it was a dead man and on the map were to words 'GET TO WHITE FOREST' written in blood."

Chell shuddered a little bit.

"Yeah." Adrian said before continuing, "When I got back to the rest of the gang one of the guys told me that he'd picked up a radio transmission saying the the Combine were headed north and for all rebel forces to head for White Forest. The next day we had a truck's battery die and by shear coincidence there was a shop nearby and they got us on the road again and they told us they'd seen Dr. Freeman two days before. So we took off up the road towards here and right as we cam out of a tunnel we saw the rocket launch and two advisors fly over head."

"Wow." Chell said. By this point they were at the north entrance to the base and Chell could see the silo. Her walking slowed to a stop as the events of what had happened the day before returned to her. She found a fallen tree and sat down.

"You alright?" Adrian asked as he walked over to her.

Chell nodded. "Just missing someone..."

"Mind if I ask who?" Shepherd replied.

"His name was Chase..." She answered, "and he was taken down by a strider yesterday..."

"Chase...?"

"Kleiner." Chell answered.

"No way..."

"What?" Chell asked.

"I guess he did end up meeting his match after all..." Adrian said.

It was then that Chell put two and two together. "Wait a second..." she said, "You knew him?"

"Oh hell yeah." He replied. "Him and I were in the same platoon. We were friends since boot-camp."

"Huh," She responded, "How about that."

"Yeah." Shepherd replied. "From what I've seen so far you were pretty close with him to. Although probably for different reasons."

"You read that much like a book..." Chell told him. "I wish Chase was that easy to read."

"I hear that." Adrian responded.

"Do you know much about him?" Chell asked.

"I know he used to be a mechanic before he went into the military and that he spent some time overseas before that but that's all I've ever managed to get out of him. He keeps his past locked up tighter than Fort Knox." Adrain explained.

"I didn't know he was ever overseas..." Chell said.

"He referred to it once in a conversation at boot-camp but he wouldn't say anything else about it." Shepherd told her. "I get the feeling he has one unbelievable story locked up in there."

"He must..." Chell said. She stood up and looked to the East just in time to watch the sun peek over the horizon. It could barely be seen through the thick fog that had been blanketing the area for the entire time she had been there. Nonetheless she could feel the entire valley get warmer as the weak rays hit the valley floor. She heard the sound of garage doors being opened and looked to see groups of people walking out wielding axes and wheelbarrows. She watched as they headed for the buildings that had been destroyed by the striders. They began chopping the fragments of wood into manageable pieces and loading them up to bring inside. She turned to Adrian, "We'd better get inside. Dr. Kleiner will be wondering where Alyx and Gordon are."

"I'm right behind you." Adrian told her. Chell went back inside where she found Chase's dad and told him that Alyx and Gordon were headed north. They were then found by a vortigaunt and Adrian reeled back into a fighting stance. "Take it easy." She told him, "They're on our side."

"Yeah I know." He responded, relaxing. "It's just that every time I saw one of them at Black Mesa, it was always followed by a lightning bolt to the chest."

"We would like to apologize for any harm done to humans during that time." The vortigaunt said, "Ever since the Freeman has released us we have done our best to help humanity in their struggle against the Combine." He then motioned for them to follow so they did as he led them down a hallway and into a dark room. As they walked in Chell almost started crying. She saw Chase lying on a bed of some kind and a vortigaunt seemed to be observing him. "Have you reached a verdict?" The vort who led them in asked.

"He would appear to be in what humans call a 'vegetative state'." The other vort answered.

"Is there any hope that we may be able to revive him?" The first one asked.

"Indeed." The second vort answered. "I have gathered a small quantity of larval extract from our previous use of the extract for the Alyx Vance. With two humans here we should surely find it easy to restore him to a state of consciousness."

"Very well." The first vort said, "Please join us..."


	61. Unfinished Business

**AN: Ok I honestly can't apologize enough for the hiatus with regard to writing. I'm sure it'll make a little more sense in the course of events yet to come but for now I'll let you get right to the story.**

 **Chapter 61:Unfinished Business**

Chase heard a voice he was now used to. "Well corporal." He heard, "My employers are very impressed with your performance and they have told me to reveal to you the two options they are prepared to give you."

"Two?" Chase doubted that he actually had a choice. Last time this man had given him a "choice" it was a matter of do what he wanted or die. Chase remained motionless, he didn't even try to open his eyes. He couldn't tell where he was or remember how he'd gotten there.

Chase then began to see blurry images. The first one was of a foyer. It took him a few moments to realize that he wasn't just looking at some random building, he was looking at the house he'd lived in back in the 40s. After a brief flash he saw the same room but from a different angle. He saw himself and Wallace when they were much younger and they were talking to a man holding a briefcase. When Chase realized who the man was that they were talking to. It was the same man who'd been guiding them along the way.

Chase then found himself in another location that he didn't recognize until he saw a sign with the words "Aperture Science Innovators" hanging overhead in the underground room. After another flash he was in a hallway and saw a stretcher that was being rushed down the hallway. Since he seemed to be frozen in time he was able to look at the body on the stretcher and was spooked to see that it was him. It looked like he was about 10 or 11 at the time. Upon further examination he could see that his chest was full of bullet holes and his intestines were showing through the abdominal wall. He wanted to ask what was going on but he couldn't.

Another flash of light came and he saw himself yet again. This time he was with Wallace and they were running out of the engine room of the Borealis. Just before they reached the door, one of the engines threw a rod and Chase watched himself get hit and instantly fall. He watched Wallace turn around as his younger self reach out hoping for help only to see Wallace turn tail and run the other way. He then watched himself pass out. He then found himself outside the ship, Wallace appeared from the deck and ran off the ship just before a colossal release of energy flashed the entire ship to the arctic.

Everything went dark briefly before the man with a briefcase appeared in front of him.

"Well Corporal..." He said.

"Am I about to die or something and I'm experiencing the whole 'my life flashed before my eyes' thing?" Chase asked.

"You don't really think that my employers would simply waste all that time do you Corporal?" The man said.

Chase was stunned, in line of all of what he'd just seen he'd been convinced this guy was with the Combine or something and wanted him dead.

"I'll tell you up front that I am neither willing, nor allowed to furnish you with a proper explanation of what you just saw." The man told him. "I am here simply to offer you the option of what will unfold in the next chapter of your life."

"Ok..." Chase wasn't sure whether or not he actually was going to have a choice but he continued to listen.

"However there is one thing that isn't up to you." The man said, "You must get to the Borealis and destroy it..."

"Gladly." Chase said calmly despite the fact that the very though of returning to the hell that ship had caused him made his heart jump into his throat.

"Good." The man told him, "Now, my employers have allowed me to offer you these two options." The man said, "Either you can go alone and I can ensure the safety of your friends, or your friends can help you and I can ensure your safety, but only your safety."

Chase thought for a moment. He really didn't want to return to that ship without someone to help out in case the memories began to get the best of him. Then he thought about having Chell come with him, it seemed like a good idea at first but then he remembered what he had to do. "Man..." He thought to himself. "I'd hate for any of them to be around when that ship teleports. They'd be walking away with burns like they'd never had before." He also wondered just how he was gonna convince Alyx and, most likely the harder one to convince, Chell, to let him go at it alone.

"Frankly Corporal I must admit that I'm surprised your answer wasn't instant." The man said.

"It's not that I don't know what I want," Chase explained, "it's that I don't know how to convince everyone else to go along with it..."

"I see..." the man seemed to be thinking himself.

"I want all my friends to be at least alive at the end of this." Chase told him, "So for their sake I'll go at it alone."

"Very well." the man said as he adjusted his tie, "My employers and I will have to act fast to see that your friends will survive. Therefore you should not be alarmed if some... unlikely events unfold shortly. I'll see you next when you've completed this task. Good luck Corporal."

The man turned and walked away and everything went black. Chase then became aware of his body though he could barely feel anything let alone move. He realized that he was lying down and he began to feel a severe throbbing in his forehead and temples. His sense of balance was really out of whack and he left like he was spinning. All of his limbs felt numb and his head felt like he was spinning even though he knew he wasn't.

"Chase?"

He heard a voice, it wasn't loud but it was enough to make his ears hurt. He tried to open his eyes but as soon as he did the light blinded him and made his head hurt. He flinched and closed them again. After a few seconds he tried again, more slowly this time, and was able to get them open. He then realized that the room was actually fairly dark and that his eyes were simply that sensitive to light.

"Chase!" He heard the voice again. This time he recognized it as Chell's voice. She was clearly glad that he was alive. He couldn't bring himself to look around or anything, he was still way too dizzy for that. But he was starting to be able to feel his body more and more and he was finally aware of what position he was lying in.

"I'll be damned." Chase heard another voice he recognized but he couldn't put his finger on who exactly it was.

"We've got a decent bit to tell you." Chell began, "But you don't seem to be feeling well enough to understand now so it'll have to wait until you're feeling better.

Chase stared at the ceiling and didn't say a word as his vision began to blur and his hearing became muffled. Before long he passed out from dizziness.


	62. Rough Landing

**Chapter 62: Rough Landing**

Alyx leaned out of the door of the helicopter. "Come on Gordon," She yelled as he was holding back the soldiers trying to run them down, "Let's get out of here!" Right as she finished she felt a bullet graze her cheek. Once her head was back inside she ran her hand over her cheek to see how bad the wound was. She looked at her hand and there wasn't much blood.

"You okay?" Gordon asked as he sat down.

"Yeah." Alyx told him, "It's not bleeding very bad."

"You're lucky." He replied, "Now let's get the hell out of here."

"On it." She responded as she took off and started back towards White Forest.

"Are you okay?" Gordon asked.

"Huh?" Alyx asked.

"There's some blood on your cheek." He responded.

"Oh yeah..." Alyx remembered. "It should be fine."

"Ok."

Alyx went back to flying to White Forest. After a few minutes they were far enough away to be out of harms way. She decided it was a good time to radio back to White Forest about what had happened. "White Forest come in." She said. "White Forest come in. This is Alyx Vance."

"Alright Alyx." Came the voice on the other end, "What's the situation?"

She thought she recognized that voice but knew it couldn't be Chase. "Who is this?" She asked.

"Alyx it's Chase..."

"Wait you're alive?!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Barely, I probably shouldn't be doing this but hey I'm still here." Chase explained. "Now what's going on?"

"We we're headed north to try and find Judith. When we got there the Combine we're launching an attack and we stayed to help fight. By the end of the battle Judith was killed and Gordon and I barely made it out."

"Damn." Chase said. "Are you guys at least- _bzzt_ " The signal cut out.

"Chase are you there?" Alyx asked. When there was no answer she tried again. "Chase?! White Forest?! Hello?!"

"Evrything Alright?" Gordon asked.

"I just lost White Forest..." she explained. "I guess the good news is Chase is alive."

"You're kidding right?"

"No I just was talking to him."

Gordon shook his head, "That guy is insanely lucky."

Alyx was about to respond when the chopper banked to the left. She tried to correct it but the controls weren't responding. "Uhh Gordon..." She said frantically.

"What the hell's going on?!" Gordon asked.

The chopper began a rapid descent and the controls were useless. "I don't know but I think we're gonna have to jump for it." Alyx said.

"Well the good news is we're headed for a lake." Gordon said leaning out the side. "Ready when you are." he said as the chopper drew ever closer to the ground.

Alyx waited nervously until the chopper was over the lake and about 30 feet above the frigid water, "Jump!" She yelled as she let go. A split second later she felt the cold lake water hit her body. While she was underwater she heard a splash accompanied by the muffled sound of a limb or board snapping. She swam back up to the surface and took a deep breath, the cold of the water helping to numb the stinging from the landing. Shortly after surfacing she turned to see the helicopter hit a tree and almost instantly go down among a shredded mass of tree limbs and rotor fragments.

"Help!" She heard Gordon scream, "Alyx!"

"Gordon!" She said as she saw him lying down in the water. She quickly swam over to him. As she drew closer to him she noticed that he was clearly in pain and was holding his right leg. Upon reaching him she noticed that he was lying on a boulder submerged in the lake. Suddenly she realized what was going on. He had landed on that boulder and the impact had likely broke his leg, which was the sound she heard from under the water. At that point impulse took over and she forgot about everything except for helping Gordon.

She climbed up on the rock a tried to find a way to the shore. Once she knew where to go she grabbed Gordon and pulled him over onto the shoreline. She scanned the area looking for a safe place to leave him. There was a large rock sticking out of the ground on the far side of the lake. She looked down at Gordon to find that he had blacked out. She did her best to drag him over to the rock to stay out of the wind and hopefully stay a little warmer in the face of the increasing wind.

"Better?" She asked him. He didn't answer. "Right, he blacked out..." she thought to herself. "Well I should probably try to keep him from getting hypothermia." She thoughtnout loud before trying to find something to make a crude windbreak. As she began work on the structure she stood up and looked over to the horizon, the sky was cloudy but the cover broke just above the horizon. She could see the dying orange glow of the sun as it slipped behind the horizon. "I'd better hurry." She thought to herself, "It's gonna get cold soon." She went back to working on the windbreak, hoping she wasn't gonna be stuck alone for too long.


	63. Search and Rescue

**Chapter 63: Search and Rescue**

Chase out his hands over his face out of frustration. He ran his fingers back through his hair as he leaned back in the chair and let out a sigh. He rapped his fingers on the desk he was at when he heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's Chell." came the reply, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah go ahead."

Chase remained fixated on nothing in particular as she walked in and walked up behind him.

Chell put a hand on his shoulder, "Did you manage to get ahold of them again?" she asked as she sat down next to him.

Chase shook his head. "No..." he said as he ran his hand over his face.

"Do you think we lost them?" Chell asked after a moment of silence.

Chase looked at her briefly and thought for a moment. "No..." he said, "They can't be dead."

"What makes you say that?" Chell asked.

Chase looked at her; "I have my sources." He explained, "I'm going out to try and find them..." He said as he got up and headed out to get the truck and head out into the woods.

Chell grabbed his arm as he began to walk away, "No you're not." She said.

Chase turned and looked at her, "I'm not leaving them out there to die."

"What if they already are?" Chell said.

"They aren't." Chase said, "And I'm getting them back here where its safer."

"It's already dark," Chell said, "How are you supposed to find them?"

"Alyx knows how to make a fire," Chase told her.

"How do you know that?" Chell asked.

"I taught her..." Chase said. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go bring them back."

Chell looked at him, visibly frustrated but also concerned. "Well you're at least not going alone..." she said.

Chase looked at her for a moment, "Okay but who's gonna stay and watch the base? I wouldn't be surprised if the Combine tries to hit here." Just then Adrian walked into the room. The room fell silent for a moment.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked.

"Actually quite the opposite," Chase told him, "Can you keep an eye on things here for tonight?"

"Uhh sure..." Adrian responded, "What's going on?"

"I don't feel like explaining," Chase said, "Just be ready for the Combine to show up, I wouldn't put it past them to show up uninvited again."

"Ok."

Chase turned to Chell, "Grab your shotgun and let's go."

"On it." Chell said as she left the room. Chase turned back to Adrian and gave a quick salute before going to get his gun and heading for the truck.

After grabbing everything he needed he made it to the truck and checked the oil and made sure it had fuel. He then started it to let the engine warm up a little bit before heading out into the cold. Not long after that Chell came into the garage. "You sure you're up for this?" she asked.

"I'll admit I'm not feeling the greatest," he answered as he climbed up into the cab, "but I'll be damned if I'm leaving them out in the woods with the Combine on the offensive."

"That's why I came with you." Chell said.

"Thanks." Chase replied as he turned on the headlights and drove out into the woods.

After about five minutes he spotted a small red glow coming from a rock next to a pond. He slowed down to see where it was coming from. He noticed it slightly flickering.

"What are you looking at?" Chell asked.

"That..." He said as he pointed to it. "I think that's a fire."

"I think so too." Chell agreed. "Head that way."

"Get your shotgun ready," He told her, "just in case it isn't." He then put the truck in a low gear and crept up on the flickering light. A shadow started moving, Chase stopped the truck as Chell trained her sights on the moving shadow. As the figure appeared out from the rock.

"Chase! Chell!" It was Alyx.

Chase was relieved, "Oh thank god!" He said as he ran up to her and hugged her.

"Where's Gordon?" Chell asked.

"He's over here." Alyx said, "I think he's in shock."

Chase ran over to Gordon and pulled him up on his shoulder. He then heard something land by his feet...

"Grenade!" He yelled reflexively as he ran from it seconds before it detonated.

"Oh god not again." He heard Alyx say, "It's too much..."

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Chase said as he headed for the truck and laid Gordon down in the bed. "Can you two stay back here with him?" He asked Alyx and Chell.

Chell nodded and they both climbed into the bed of the truck. Chase went back to the driver's seat and began driving back to White Forest through a barrage of bullets.

After a few minutes when the gunfire had subsided he called back to Chell and Alyx, "Are you guys okay back there?" He asked.

"I got hit in the arm," Chell responded, "But I'll be fine."

"Alright good." He said. As he went back to driving he thought he heard some sobbing, without much thought he realized it was Alyx. He shook his head in frustration, "Great," he thought to himself, "They finally managed to break her..."

"I'll be damned if I let them get away with this..." He thought.

After arriving back at the base he went back to find Chell with a cloth wrapped around her arm. He lifted Gordon out of the bed of the truck and Alyx followed as he carried him inside. As they walked in a pair of medics and a vortigaunt greeted them and took Gordon to a room to try to figure out what was wrong. Alyx followed as they walked of with him, Chase could see the despair on her face briefly as she looked back at him and Chell.

"Go with her." Chase said to Chell, "she needs someone to be there for her."

"Are you coming too?" Chell asked, "She could use your company."

Chase winced slightly as his throat twisted into a knot, "Give me a few minutes, I've gotta go find Adrian real quick."

"Ok..." Chell said with a slightly worried look on her face as she caught up with Alyx.

Chase found a room where his dad was.

"Chase!" His dad said as he walked in, "Thank goodness your okay."

Chase smiled, "It's nice to see you too dad."

"So what brings you here at this hour?" His dad asked.

"Can you do me a favor?" Chase asked.

"Of course." His dad replied.

"Can you get a rough head-count for all of the rebel forces in the area?"

"It'll take me until tomorrow but yes I can get in contact with other outposts in the area." His dad said.

"Thanks dad." Chase said, "I'm gonna go make sure Alyx is gonna be alright."

"What's wrong with her?" he recognized Adrian's voice as he entered the room.

Chase looked at the floor as he put his hand on the door handle, "The Combine's what's wrong with her..." he said, "those bastards have finally broke her... And I ain't about to take easily to that..." He opened the door, "Help my dad get a head count." He said as he walked out.


	64. The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 64: The Calm Before the Storm**

Alyx wiped the tears from her face as she leaned on Chell. She didn't say anything and simply wrapped an arm around her.

"You're gonna be okay." She said.

Alyx sighed. "You know," she began, "I've been told that so many times I can't believe I still give any meaning to that statement."

"Oh?" Chell asked.

"Yeah..." Alyx said as her mind began to wander, "I used to be a lot more emotional than you would believe... or Gordon for that matter."

"Really?" Chell said.

"Yeah... Then Chase left for boot camp, Black Mesa happened, my mother was killed, and the Seven Hour War all happened in the span of a few months." Alyx explained, "I guess an experience like that would leave anyone emotionally hardened."

"I can imagine..." Chell said sympathetically.

"Yeah..." Alyx lamented, "Now I've lost my father and had close calls with Chase and Gordon..." She paused briefly, "It's finally getting to me and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep fighting."

"Hopefully you won't have to for too much longer..." Chell said quietly, "I don't like the way things seem to be headed either..."

"Yeah..." Alyx said.

The room fell silent for a moment until Chell chuckled slightly breaking the silence.

"What?" Alyx asked.

"Nothing." Chell explained, "It's just that looking back I wonder how bad being stuck in Aperture really was. At least in there I rarely had to think on my toes if i wanted to survive."

Alyx sat up and looked at her, "What was it like in there anyway?" She asked.

"Well," Chell began, "I remember waking up in some kind of bed that had glass doors that sealed it off from the room. And after I climbed out and got my bearings there was a voice that came over some kind of intercom and it explained to me that I was about to participate in a series of tests and that it was going to help guide me through them."

"What kind of 'tests' were they?" Alyx asked. "Knowing what my dad and Dr. Kleiner have seen it probably wasn't safe."

"In a way it was safe but not in a way most people would call 'safe.'" Chell explained, "You could make it through most of the tests without getting hurt so long as you took your time and thought things through."

"Really?"

"Well except fr the last one..." Chell said.

"Why?"

"Well if you managed to survive the last test you got lowered into a pit of fire at the end."

"So how did you survive?" Alyx asked finding herself very curious for some reason she couldn't explain.

"Quick thinking I guess." Chell answered, "Even though it was almost all just impulse."

"Hmm." Alyx said, "what happened after that?"

"Well I pretty much had to find my way through the facility until I found a rogue AI and I ended up blowing it up with its own rockets." Chell said.

"Impressive..." Alyx said trying to imagine the scenario in her head. "Is there more?"

Chell opened her mouth to answer when Chase cut in, "Yes," he said, "Tons more."

Alyx was happy to see him again but she listened to what he was about to say.

"That facility has way more of a story than you would think by looking at it." He continued. "I'm even part of that story..."

Alyx leaned forward on her seat, she couldn't believe Chase was about to say something about his past. She'd never even seen the place and now it turns out Chase has something to do with it?

"Wait what?!" Chell almost yelled.

"Ok first," Chase said, "calm down. And second, yes I used to be a part of a bureaucratic nightmare that came about in the wake of World War II."

"Ok hold up..." Alyx said as she tried to process what was just said, "How do you remember something that happened in the 1940s? Were you even alive back then?"

"Yes." Chase told her, "Despite that I'm still only in my twenties."

Alyx was so dumbfounded she couldn't even figure what exactly she couldn't understand.

"What all did they do to you?" Chell asked picking up the conversation.

"Lots." Chase said quietly, "They turned me in to what I am today." He proceeded to mumble something under his breath.

"What was that?" Chell asked.

Chase looked at her and Alyx could tell something was coming over him. "Nothing..." He said.

"Chase..." Alyx said as she stood up and approached him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He said quickly. Alyx could tell she'd startled him.

"Why don't you go take a seat," She suggested trying to keep him from going anywhere, "I'm sure you could use a break."

"No," He argued, "I've gotta go talk to Adrian."

"I'll go get him." Chell said. She and Alyx exchanged looks before she took off leaving Alyx and Chase in the room.

"Ok now just sit down and relax for a minute." Alyx said. Chase didn't move at first he just looked at her and then down at the floor. "Chase..." she repeated, "Do it."

Chase looked at her and finally sat down. "What do you want?" he said calmly.

"Don't be stupid," Alyx told him, "You and I both know that I can tell something's bothering you." Chase was silent and just looked at her.

"Well?" She asked. She was determined to get something else out of him.

Chase looked at something else in the room. "Don't stress yourself worrying about it," he said, "I won't be worrying about it soon enough."

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that we were just talking about Aperture?" Alyx inquired. Chase looked back at her.

"It's something that happened because of Aperture..." He said. Suddenly something clicked in Alyx's mind.

"The Borealis..." she whispered.

"Yes..." Chase said quietly before he shook his head and looked at the floor. "Damn Wallace..."

"Wait what did he have to do with this?" Alyx asked.

"You know how the Borealis mysteriously 'dissapeared' one day?"

"Yeah..."

"Well that was us." Chase explained.

"Oh my god..." Alyx couldn't believe what she was hearing, "What did you guys do?"

"Wallace wanted to see if he could figure out how to make the ship do what it was supposed to do..." Chase said, "and it almost worked. But, unknown to him, the controls for the ships teleporter weren't calibrated so we ran to try and escape before the ship basically destroyed itself."

Alyx couldn't even think of what to say. "Why did you never tell me this?" She asked.

"Simple," Chase answered, "Would you believe that story if you hadn't know that the Borealis was real?"

"Maybe..." Alyx told him, "I know you wouldn't make something like that up."

"Well maybe but back then you were too young to understand."

"Yeah I guess but did you even tell Dr. Kleiner that?"

"Nope you, Wallace and I are probably the only three that know about it." Chase said.

"You can make that five." Alyx turned as she recognized Chell's voice. She saw Chell and Adrian standing in the door.

"How much of that did you guys hear?" Chase said.

"Enough to know that your life has been way more interesting than I ever would have guessed" Adrian said.

"Oh there's more to it." Chase said, "But right now you and I have more important things to worry about."

"I guess so," Adrian said, "But you're telling us this story once this is all said and done."

"Ok I guess that's fair," Chase said, "You guys have all done a lot to help me, I guess I can return that favor a little bit. But let's get down to planning out how we're gonna do this tomorrow."

"Alright," Adrian said, "We've probably got about a thousand soldiers to work with."

"When will they be here?" Chase asked.

"Most of them will be able to make it here by tomorrow morning but some will be a little longer than that."

"Good." Chase said.

"What exaclty are we gonna be trying to pull off?" Alyx asked.

"I'm gonna try and get to the Borealis." Chase said.

"How?" Alyx asked.

"As long as I can get to that ship I don't care how it happens." Chase said, "I'm just ready to end this war."

"How is taking out the Borealis going to end the war?" Chell asked.

Chase looked at her, "Trust me," he said, "That ship has the power to do things you won't believe until you've seen it happen. In fact I don't want any of you guys getting anywhere near that thing during this operation."

"You're going at this alone?" Alyx asked.

"No he isn't." Chell said.

"I knew you'd need convincing." Chase said. "Just trust me that if you come with me it'll be the last thing you do."

Alyx just looked at him.

"Chase come out here I want to talk to you." Chell said.

"Oh yeah here we go..." Alyx heard Chase mutter as he got up and walked out into the hall with her. Chell closed the door behind them.

Alyx and Adrian looked at each other. "Who do you think's gonna win that argument?" He asked.

"That's a really good question..." Alyx replied, "They're both pretty stubborn but they somehow manage to put up with each other. It's honestly kinda romantic in a weird way."

"Are those two, like, a thing?" Adrian asked.

"They might as well be," Alyx answered, "They fight like they are."

"I might have guessed..."


	65. Departure

**Chapter 65: Departure.**

Chase woke up from a surprisingly good night's sleep considering that he knew what was going to happen today. He didn't move because he didn't want to wake Chell up as she was still sleeping in his arms.

"Man..." He thought to himself, "she was fighting with me last night but somehow we still ended up sleeping together... I must have done something right to end up with her by my side." He was actually surprised that she was still asleep, he'd expected her to be up extremely early due to her nerves but instead she was still asleep with her head resting on his arm. He decided to not get up yet so as not to wake her up, instead he just looked around the room. The only sound in the room was the sound of his and Chell's breathing. "I could honestly get used to this..." He thought to himself. Ever since he'd left for boot camp he'd seemingly forgotten what normal life was like. All he could easily remember was Aperture and then the military, he'd forgotten a large part of who he was. He'd only spent a few years outside of Aperture before he went into the military but those, he remembered, were the most enjoyable years of his life so far. "Damn..." He thought, "I've been missing out on so much and it took me until just now to realize it... My whole life would have flown by me and I'd have never even noticed." Chase shuddered as the realization sank in.

"You alright?" Chell asked, evidently having been awoken by the movement.

"Yeah I'm alright." Chase told her. "Are you normally this light of a sleeper?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm an extremely light sleeper when I'm not exhausted." She said, "Plus you don't normally move when you sleep... Like at all."

"I guess that's fair." Chase said as he thought for a moment. "Chell..." He began.

"Yeah?" Came the reply.

"What are you gonna do if I don't come back from this?" He asked.

"Wow thanks..." She said, "This is definitely the first thing I want to think about in the morning. And today of all days."

"I know, I'm sorry." Chase told her, "But can you still answer it?"

"Well," she began, "I think I'd probably be okay at least for the most part, but... you're a really hard person to replace..."

"Don't think about it too much, I was just wondering." He said trying to ease her worries. "You should probably wait to cross that bridge until you come to it."

"That's probably a good idea..." Chell said. "Are you wanting to get ready to leave?"

"No I've got a minute." He told her, "I've gotta wait on Shephard anyway."

"Ok." Chell said as she shifted her position slightly. The room fell silent again for a few moments. "This is kinda nice..." She said.

"I know..." Chase agreed, "I could get used to this every morning..."

"Yeah..." Chell said quietly. After a few moments there was a knock at the door.

"Kleiner I'm gonna head down to the road and keep track of who all's coming here." Came Adrian's voice from the other side.

"Alright give me a moment and I'll be right out." Chase told him.

"Alright I'll meet you down there."

"I guess you have to get up now..." Chell said.

"Yep..." Chase said, "And then it's off to the Borealis..."

Chell sat up and Chase got up and walked over to his weapons and gave them a once over before holstering them. He then picked up the helmet to his suit and was about to put it on when Chell stopped him.

"Chase..." She said as she put a hand on his shoulder, "Before you leave, can you promise me one thing?"

He turned and looked at her. "Probably." He said.

"Can you promise me you'll do your best to make it back?" Chell asked with tears starting to form in her eyes.

Chase just looked at her for a moment. "I guess that's all I really can promise you at this point, isn't it?" He said.

Chell looked at him for a moment before she bit her lip, presumably to keep herself from crying, and buried her head in his chest.

Chase stroked her hair for a moment. "It's okay." He assured her. Then he kissed the top of her head, "I'll do my best to make it back."

"You'd better..." She said as she they let go of each other.

"Well I guess I'd better get moving." Chase said as he headed for the door. "I'll be thinking of you..." He added as he walked out into the hallway. As he walked past the doors one of them opened and Alyx stepped out just in front of him.

"Are you leaving?" She asked.

"I was headed out." He replied.

"Alright well take care of yourself." She told him.

Chase was about to answer when he thought of something, "I'll do my best." He said, "And hey if you could go talk to Chell for a little bit to try and calm her nerves that would probably be a good idea. I think she really needs someone in there with her right now."

"Sure no problem." Alyx responded.

"Thanks." Chase said as he continued outside and began the descent down the hill to go meet up with Adrian.

After descending the hill Chase found Adrian and was surprised to find a whole convoy of vehicles and supplies ready to ship out.

"Sheesh man you weren't kidding." He told Adrian.

"I know I heard the numbers but I never would have guessed it would look like this right in front of me." Adrian replied.

"I'd day so..." Chase said as he looked over the convoy. "Where'd these guys all come from?" He asked.

"Most of them seem to be from nearby cities. I'd imagine most of the escapees from City 17 are either dead or ready for a break from fighting." Adrain explained.

"So their morale should be nice and high is what you're saying?" Chase said.

"I'd say that's probably true." Adrain agreed.

"Well," Chase said, "You've done your job and told them where to go. Now it's mine turn to take them from here and hopefully bring most of them back."

"Alright well good luck to ya." Adrian replied.

"Thanks." Chase began, "And before you take off, If I find a radio tower up there I'll try to send a message through to you guys when they start pulling out of there so be prepared for a video transmission some time tomorrow."

"Alright, will do." Adrian replied, "Uhh should I go talk to Chell to make sure she'll be alright?"

"I sent Alyx to do that already but if you want to go talk to her too that's probably not a bad idea."

"Alright Chase. Good luck out there."

"Yep. I've gotta go get plans made and get this convoy on the move." Chase said as he headed over towards the convoy as some of the drivers and rebels greeted him. After giving them a brief rundown of what to do he headed for his truck and headed north backed by the largest force he'd ever led. As he headed over the hill overlooking the base he thought of Chell, and Alyx along with Adrian and even his dad. "I've never been one to hope that my convictions are wrong but for once I kinda hope I'm wrong about that man not wanting me to make it out of this... He's actually left me with something to come back to finally." And with that thought he rounded the turn over the hill and began to plan how he was going to carry out the attack tomorrow.


	66. Consolation

**AN: As I have gotten closer and closer to the conclusion of this story I have made some changes to the plot. These changes have accumulated to a point where I feel the first chapter of this story is no longer compatible with the big picture I have in my head. So for the time being consider the current version of the first chapter of this story to be no longer accurate.**

 **Chapter 66: Consolation**

Gordon woke up in a dark room. He couldn't quite tell where he was or how he'd ended up there but he wasn't being shot at or anything so he didn't feel compelled to get up and move. He could feel a slight throbbing in his right leg. He tried to remember what had happened before he passed out. He had left with Alyx to try and find Dr. Mossman and just after they'd arrived the Combine showed up and they had to bail out after she was killed. They then made a break for White Forest and then the helicopter controls stopped working and they ended up jumping into a lake. He remembered hearing his leg break and Alyx dragging him out of the water shortly before he passed out.

"Ugh," he thought to himself, "I'm not sure how much more of this fighting I can take. It's really starting to take its toll on me both mentally and physically." He propped himself up and got ready to stand up as he heard the door open and he looked up to see Alyx walk into the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked.

"I was about to come looking for you." Gordon answered.

"Well I'm here now so just stay put." Alyx told him.

"Can I at least get up on a couch so I can sit instead of having to lay down?" He asked.

Alyx sighed, "I guess so but let me help you."

Gordon didn't really think he needed help to move 10 feet on a leg that was just sore but he decided to let her help. He figured it would keep her content and it would be an excuse to get close to her again. "Fine." He conceded as he held out his right arm. He was surprised, however, when instead of simply grabbing his arm and pulling him up, she opted to pull his arm around her and use her left arm to help him stand up. He then walked with her over to a nearby couch and he carefully sat down. Once he'd sat down Alyx let go of him briefly before shifting her position so she could lean into him. He put his arm around her and the room fell silent for a few seconds until Alyx broke the silence.

"Gordon," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for being really clingy all of a sudden..."

"Don't be." He told her, "I actually kinda like it."

"Ok good. It's just that, in line of what's happened recently, I really need to find someone who can not be freaked out by the softer side of me."

"I get it." Gordon said. "I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up either."

"Really?" Alyx asked.

"Yeah." He replied, "I mean hell, it feels like it was literally one day before we met that I was late to work and ended up tearing a hole in the universe and having to fight through aliens and eventually even the HECU branch of the Marine Corps. Then I get here and everything seems relatively calm but I can tell I didn't like what was going and then the teleporter incident happened and since then the Combine's been hounding me. It get's taxing after a while."

"Yeah." Alyx replied, "It's fairly easy to look at the bigger picture of wars when you aren't the one on the ground doing all the killing. It doesn't get any easier when you start thinking about all the other people who were in the same situation as you and aren't here to talk about it."

"Yeah and most of those people were up against better odds than we were." Gordon said, "And yet we're the ones still here..."

"Yeah..." Alyx said. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke again. "I will always wonder how Chase is able to handle all this so easily."

"What do you mean?" Gordon asked her.

"Well I mean all of this fighting takes a toll on people," she said, "all you have to do is look around and you can see people breaking down. And yet he's still always at the ready for another round."

"I guess that's what makes a good soldier," Gordon replied, "Always ready when his country needs him."

"I know," Alyx conceded, "but he seems so calloused to all of this stuff that I'm not sure he even feels anything anymore..."

"Oh?" Gordon asked her.

"Yeah," she replied, "Even since I saw him again for the first time he's gotten way more distant than he used to be."

"I never knew he was anything other than a laid back, fighting machine." Gordon replied.

"Not always." Alyx told him, "He used to be, I don't want to say soft, but less cold."

"How did you know him?" He asked.

"He used to live with my family and Dr. Kleiner back in Black Mesa." She said, "We had a lot of fun and he taught me a lot of what I know."

"Oh yeah?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah," Alyx replied, "I actually owe a lot of my hand to hand and shooting skills to time i spent with him when I was really young."

"How old were you when this happened?" Gordon asked.

"Oh I was barely in grade school," Alyx said with a quiet laugh, "My dad used to get mad at him for it. But a while ago he told me that he wouldn't change a thing I learned from all that because otherwise I probably wouldn't be here."

"Hmm." Gordon said not knowing what to say.

"Yeah..." Alyx said. Gordon noticed that her voice was a little shaky. He shifted so he was facing more towards her.

"Alyx," he asked as he put a hand on her shoulder, "are you okay?"

She immediately began to break down so he put an arm around her. "It's okay," He said, "I'm here for you." They sat there for a few moments as Alyx tried to pull herself together.

Eventually she had pulled herself together enough to talk again. "Sorry about that Gordon." She said, "I just needed to vent."

"Don't feel bad." He told her, "You've been through a lot."

Alyx just looked at him briefly before she spoke. "Thanks." She said with a smile.

Gordon stroked her hair, "You don't need to thank me." he said.


End file.
